Let me borrow from Gerard Van Der Leun:

“But what can I do?”
“Do what God puts in front of you.”

Michele has a thank-you card for everyone who has done anything towards the goals of the Spirit Of America. I share my thanks, not only for the donations that are for a good cause, but also for everyone who has given up something “quid pro quo” for a little bit of help. For me to list them down would be for me to forfeit my entire morning copying and pasting, typing and correcting, linking and tracking blogs back. I am too lazy for this. Even at the beginning of it all I was floored by the creativity and the approach that we took. We offered a part of our selves for greater rewards than simple matters of exchange and commerce. And for once I felt a rush, an unfamiliar high that doesn’t usually hit me.

I spent a little bit of last night pondering as to when it was that it felt the same, and when I figured it out I just had to pause a little and smile. It was like when I was in college again, working with other people in my class to go ahead and work towards a common goal. I was pretty active in my college organization as well as some extracurricular activities. We would hold all sorts of activities: contests, symposia, talks, and throughout these events leaders and followers alike would experience the depths of stress when something goes wrong. Everyone would be taut as violin strings, and nerves would be frazzled. However, at the end of it all was that deep sigh of relief, a cathartic release of tension upon looking at the empty conference hall: chalkboards to be erased, stray papers to be picked up, materials to be placed in order, and chairs to straighten out. Sometimes we were too tired to even sit down and say, “hey that was good,” and that all we wanted was to go home. Other times, lunch out with the team members was the order of the day. Whether we wanted to all just go home, or hang out afterwards, what mattered was that there was the acknowledgement of a job well done.

It really has been a long time since I have felt the way I did yesterday. Thank you all, solicitors and donors, dear friends, for the chance to experience it all over again, if but for a few hours. My best wishes to the SOA leadership, and my greatest thanks to our Marines.

In closing, from Gerard yet again:

And I have to think that no matter what I am doing to help, no matter what I ever manage to do, I’m still going to hear:

“It’s not enough. It’s not enough.”

My only answer to his creeping doubt: That something has been done, that a step has been taken, and that a personal sacrifice has been made, may perhaps be enough.