Memorial Day Connections

Today is my father's 90th birthday. 

I wanted to share a story on this Memorial Day.  It is not a story of heroism, but a story of how we are all connected.  My dad shared with me how he was stationed in southern Italy after the Allied Invasion of Italy in late September 1943---almost 70 years ago.

He was an army logistics officer.   When he would have some time he would go into a local town and get some breakfast from the same restaurant.   He told me of the same young man about his age who worked there.   

Fast forward many decades.----

Several years ago I was visiting a friend and collegue in Detroit.  We met through our connection to Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne of the Sarvodaya Movement in Sri Lanka, one of the inspirations for the Conscious Community. 

We were sitting in an Italian restaurant with my friend's brother and his father.  They were an Italian family and the food and company was wonderful.  We started talking about the family history and the father related his life growing up in a small town in southern Italy.  He worked in a small restaurant in Italy as a young man and told me about how the American servicemen came into his restaurant after the fall of Mussolini and the coming of the Allies.

My mind started to spin around.  What are the chances? 

A few moments after we reached this point in the conversation I got a phone call on my cell from, who do you think?---my father!

My dad was just checking in as he typically does.  I started talking to my father and telling him about the conversation I was having with my friends's father.  I asked him if he remembers the name of the restaurant and if he happened to remember the name of the fellow that served him there.  He told me both.

I asked my dad to hold on the phone for a second and passed it to my friend's father.  They started talking and remembered one another from the time they spent 70 years earlier.

Once sworn enemies, Italy and America, these two young men, brought together over a simple meal and company, found a common connection.

And, they passed it forward to me to recognize how we are all connected, even through painful and horrible wars and violence. 

Thanks dad for your service to your country and thanks also for giving me this lesson.