After lunch my usual Sunday boredom started to set in and I figured I should go ahead and give this indexing thing a try. After all the instructor had said it was a great way to pass time, and I figured I could go ahead and prove her wrong. Then having done my duty to try what I learned in church I could continue my day of rest. I turned on the computer downloaded the software, watched a quick how to video and got started.
Initially it was pretty much data entry. I would look at the scanned image of a census and then typed the info into the data base. The first batch of 5 people was easy and with nothing else to do I downloaded another file. The individuals to be entered from this file were from draft cards of men who served in WWI. The first few were easy and had pretty good handwriting. By this time I was starting to realize this was more than just data entry. The men were from Kentucky, most of them from the same town. Some were 18 some close to 40. They were single, and married, some had kids, some did not, most all of them were farmers. I then came to one man, his first name was poorly written and hard to make out. For several minutes I studied his name and signature, but could not figure out what it said. Then almost as a voice from the other side I heard Elijah Durbin. He was 21, worked for his father, and listed his occupation as a farmer. He had never been in the military and was the son of an citizen of the Untied States of America.
War at that time became very personal to me. I left some picture in a history book surrounded by empty statistics of the number of dead and wounded. I sat in a trench for a small moment in time with Elijah Durbin. I do not know if he lived through the war or if he died. I do know he had blue eyes, was a slender build and tall. I sense he loved his family, and the blue grass hills of Kentucky. He loved the fresh air and good soil. He had a whole life in front of him. Somewhere in a trench filled with the muddy soil of Europe, far from home, he lived for a season. He lived there for his father, his siblings, his hope of posterity. He lived there for me, for you. I hope he made it home and his life was filled with the soil of Kentucky, his life was full, cause his life was bigger than some big idea. It was his!
Of all we can give to a cause perhaps nothing is greater than just living so that our life is a reflection of the cause. As I sat entering names into a database this afternoon, I found a person born almost a hundred years before me. Who taught me this, if we want freedom then there is nothing better than living free. When we do this our life is greater than a statistic in a history book. Our life touches someone in ways we never dreamed through mediums that we don’t even know exists. We are so much more than a data entry when we live.
I caught a small glimpse of the face of freedom. A personal reminder of the price of freedom and how each of us are so connected as a family of Americans, connected as Gods children. Elijah Durbin had poor penmanship but is more than a draft card. He is part of us all, as are all those who live, and live free. Tomorrow I hope I can be a little better, stand a little taller, fight a little better. I hope to hug my kids a little stronger and teach them a little more. I hope to cuddle my wife tomorrow in our beautiful home. I hope to give something close to my all and honor those who have by living.
No comments:
Post a Comment