We Were Soldiers Once, Part 5. The government is using a taxi company to deliver the “we deeply regret” letters. Good ol’ government. Draft you into war, then send someone else to tell the family that you’ve died. But in one scene, a taxi driver stops at Mel Gibson’s house to ask directions – his wife, of course, thinks the worst and then jumps all over him “do you know what you did to me?!” The typical “I thought you were about to tell me that my husband was dead!!” reaction I would imagine. He tells her “ma’am I don’t like this job,” and you realize that the guy on that side of the fence has his own struggles. We feel her anger and outrage, and with that one look he gives to her, and the little head hang as he turns to leave, you realize that this guy has an awful job. We complain about our jobs, and here’s a guy that goes to work KNOWING that he has horrible news to deliver. He needs help, and he deserves sympathy. He knows that with every letter he holds, there’s a dead soldier attached to it, and a devastated family in his future. A family that may forever associate his face with delivering the tragic news. And every single day, he has to get up and force himself to go to work in order to provide for his own family.
How often do we see people – see their appearance, hear 10 seconds of a conversation and jump to conclusions about their predicament? Decide that those people are just trash? Or that guy’s just useless? Or that person just is perfectly content being in that situation? “If they cared at all about being”…you name it…out of a job or overweight or addicted to drugs or living under an overpass, “then they’d obviously do something about it!” Wouldn’t they?! Of course they would…and why would they? Well because we’ve decided that they would. Because we’ve seen a short snapshot of their condition and judged them and their position and decided that they must LIKE being where they are or otherwise they’d fix it. So There!
But identifying a problem and fixing a problem are two drastically different ideas. When I’m driving behind a pickup truck on the interstate in Memphis, and his driver’s side front wheel comes off and starts bouncing across three lanes of traffic, while his truck, that has suddenly become a tripod (to borrow a Ron White line) is sparking down the road – true story, by the way – well that’s an EASY problem to identify. “Hey buddy, here’s your problem…your wheel and tire are bouncing off south toward the wall at 50 miles an hour while you’re still going west, albeit MUCH slower!” But fixing his condition is considerably more complicated. And not likely to be one he can fix alone.
But we don’t look at that side of it. Rarely do we walk a mile in their shoes. We’ll scream that at anyone who judges us, surely – but rarely do we look at others like that. What got you here? How can I help you get out it? An addiction problem? How about finding someone to talk to – get some accountability. No, not some court representative that threatens you into giving it up. But someone that cares about you. Someone that will be concerned when you stumble…and will be there to help you up. There’s a line from an old song by the band Poison (“Something to Believe In”) that talks about a suicidal Vietnam Vet…”their bullets took his best friends in Saigon, our lawyers took his wife and kids, no regrets. In a time I don’t remember, and a war he can’t forget.” He didn’t choose his path, but like I mentioned in the last devotional, he now finds himself dealing with a situation that he was drug sideways into. Kenny Rogers said that it wasn't him that started that old crazy Asian war. But millions are struggling after fighting in wars they had nothing to do with. And struggles take on many faces…drugs, weight problems, anger issues.
We need to learn to not yell at the taxi drivers. We need to quit “yeah right”ing at the “Homeless Vet, God Bless” signs we see along the roads. They’re all God’s children. They all have a story. And their story may not include lucky breaks, happy endings, or quick fixes. But their story is one that God knows. And when Jesus says in Matthew 10:30 and Luke 12:7 that the hairs on your head are numbered…he’s not just talking to you. Listen for the Whisper that tells you that He’s talking about them, too. And instead of looking down our noses or judging their plight, we need to realize that. “Whatever you did for the least of these.”
~Dwayne
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