A Small Thought About a Purple Heart

The other day I found my father’s VFW cap. It carries the ribbons from his war years. Among them is a Purple Heart with two oak leaf clusters. I know lots about how he got them. Among other things I spent my childhood watching the shrapnel working its way out of various parts of his body…

Now his life wasn’t much before the war.

And he threw most of the rest of his life away following the war, and in that throwing away caused much pain for his family.

It took a long time to forgive him. Mostly…

And.

He was a medic during the war. His body was torn apart helping others in battle…

I held that cap and contemplated the three purple hearts…

Perhaps, just possibly, his service to others, to some greater good, well,

it feels

like there was some sort of redemption in it.

When that episode of West Wing played, where Toby helps to bury a homeless Vet who also had a purple heart, I watched, and couldn’t help but think of my father…

and many others…