Remember those upholding 'service before self' during difficult time

  • Published
  • By Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Steven Nicolai
  • 71st Flying Training Wing
Vance Air Force Base, Okla. --  The 71st Flying Training Wing held its annual Dining Out Saturday, celebrating the Air Force's birthday while also remembering our fallen comrades and honoring those who work hard to accomplish the wing's mission.
It is good we pause in the midst of busy schedules to remember and give thanks; it is easy to forget and become distracted.
It's easier to personally identify with the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and focus on problems at home such as drugs, crime, health, education, the economy, Social Security, immorality or natural disasters than to identify with the oppression of a foreign regime. So it is good to take time to honor our fallen heroes and those who continue to accomplish our wing's mission.
It is good, too, that we pause in the midst of challenging times which might test our resolve; it is easy to become mystified by disagreeing voices. On one hand Cindy Sheehan and the "Gold Star Families for Peace" advocate an end to the occupation of Iraq while providing support for families of fallen soldiers. On the other hand Melanie Morgan and the "Move America Forward" tour is traveling across the nation to rally Americans to stand united behind our troops and their mission.
We grieve every loss of life and we want to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, reaffirming the importance of our second core value of "service before self."
Of the Air Force's three core values, I believe this is the most demanding and the one most difficult for us to internalize for two basic reasons: it's not natural and it says "I lose something."
It's not natural
"Service before self" is not a human predisposition; we are constantly trying to balance our primitive need for self-gratification with our moral conscience that calls us to serve the needs of our neighbor. Perhaps what makes this core value even more challenging is it often calls us to identify with, and to meet the needs of, persons unlike ourselves. Our current war on terrorism calls upon us to protect and improve the lives of people who speak a different language, who value a different culture and who worship differently than at least the majority of us.
In the Christian New Testament, the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) teaches us we prove ourselves to be a good neighbor when we show mercy upon those in need, and it challenges us to go and do the same as this Samaritan foreigner. We uphold the second core value of the Air Force, regardless of how unnatural it might be, whenever we show mercy upon persons unlike ourselves. And when we do, we honor our fallen heroes by continuing, and completing, the work they have so nobly began.
I lose something
"Service before self" is sacrificial; it means I will give up something so somebody else will gain something. And while selflessness is to be highly valued, there is no way we can take the sting out of what it means to sacrifice, regardless of whether it means time, energy or our lives. I can't get back time I deny myself or my family after I spend it on another; there are many things I lose when I expend personal energy promoting the well-being of others; and there is no way to make sweet the news a child will not have another day with their daddy or a spouse with their loved one.
In the Christian New Testament, Jesus said, "No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). This declaration takes on a whole new meaning when applied to personal sacrifices that are given in our current war on terrorism. Like with the parable of the Good Samaritan, the emphasis here lies not on "friends," but on "laying down one's life" for them; self-sacrifice is the mark of love. We uphold the second core value of the Air Force, as painful as it might be, whenever we sacrifice a part of our lives for the benefit of others. And we honor our fallen heroes by living our lives to the fullest, for they gave their life for others and did not hold anything back.
Albert Einstein once said, "Only a life lived for others is worth living." This is the essence of the Air Force second core value. By upholding this core value, we become a blessing to others, and we honor our fallen heroes.