Bryan Strawser

One of my favorite movies has always been Stephen Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan.

When the movie came out much of the press coverage was centered on the special effects, the detailed scenes of D-Day, or of how it portrayed the fighting. But the deeper message for me was about what these men sacrificed so that others might live in freedom.

It’s that final scene in the movie that gets me every time – Private Ryan, so many years later, at the cemetary with his family.. looking at the grave of the man who gave all that he had – and all that his men had – to find Private Ryan and fulfill his duty. Private Ryan who spent the rest of his life trying to live up to that promise give to him by that young Captain.

Sgt. Hook wrote something today that reminds me of that scene from Saving Private Ryan – and it left me with the same emotions that I feel every time I watch that scene:

His eyes closed, drifting off to dream world. His sister had already fallen alseep. She was dozing herself as David Letterman came to an end when the ring of the doorbell startled her. She nervously walked down the steps wrapped in his flannel shirt and peered out of the peep hole in the locked door. Her legs buckled and she fell to the floor at the sight of an Army officer and a Chaplain standing outside under the porch light dressed in their green class ‘A’ uniforms adorned with medals and such.

The Army officer and Chaplain awash in the porch light could hear her wailing through the door, “but he was supposed to be home for Thanksgiving in just three days.”

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?