[Vision2020] My Fork

[Tom Hansen]

>From "The Sandbox" at http://gocomics.typepad.com/the_sandbox/ -

A heart-felt reflection by Army Chaplain (Captain) Brad Lewis

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MY FORK
Name: CH (CPT) Brad P. Lewis
Posting date: 10/30/06
Returned from: Iraq
Hometown: Sacramento, CA
Milblog url: http://chaplain.blogspot.com 

I can't imagine that there is anyone over here that does not want to go
home. It's very fulfilling to be a part of something so big and to play a
role in the freeing of an entire nation. But it's like Dorothy said,
"There's no place like home." They treat us pretty well here, but there are
some things that just can't be replaced. As I sit down for meals and talk
with soldiers about life, service, home, girls, boys, families, etc.,
everyone misses something. For one it's coffee out of his favorite mug. For
another it's the morning newspaper. One guy will miss the smell of his
children or the taste of mom's lasagna. Everyone misses something. Everyone
looks forward to getting back to that something. Everyone dreams of
normalcy. That's where the sacrifice of these great people is most clearly
seen -- in the little things they willingly give up, to live and work in a
rat hole. And they don't complain or blame or whine. They just keep fighting
and working and dreaming of going home. These are truly great people.

Like the next guy, I too want to go home and hold my wife and my kids, to
sip coffee from my own mug, to work in my yard. But having been deployed to
several locations in a very short period I miss one thing more than any
other. For me, plastic is the problem. It's those silly plastic forks with
the hollow tines, where everything you eat gets jammed in there and it just
feels funny in your mouth. I miss real silverware. Ah the feel of smooth
aluminum or steel or tin or whatever they make silverware out of (maybe its
silver). I'm no utensilogist, but I know a good fork when I see one. Knives
and spoons are not an issue. Forks are what I miss. Like I said, I'm no
different. Just like the next guy...kinda.

You see, unlike the next guy, I have the perfect spouse. She knows me, and
loves me anyway. She's perfect. So, recently I was home just long enough to
drive my kids to school a couple of times and kiss my bride. And just before
taking off again for parts unknown, she bought me a fork! It's not a very
fancy one. Neither is it a girly fork. It's perfect. It has a nice big
handle that's a manly black and silver; it's easy to hold on to, with
perfectly straight and smooth tines. I love my fork. So now when I go to eat
breakfast or lunch or dinner or just an afternoon snack, I reach into my
pocket and pull out my little friend...and we enjoy a meal together. There's
no place like home, even when it's the size of a fork.

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Sometimes it is the little things that mean the most.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho


"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.