09/26/2026
At the VA charity event I attended, this was the speech that I wrote that was published and distributed. I thought I would share it with everyone:
"We are bound by something few truly understand — not just service, but sacrifice. Not just duty, but a quiet promise we made long ago.
We did what we did not only for those close to us — our families, our friends — but for people we will never meet. People who will never know our names, never hear our stories, and never see the weight we carried. And yet, their lives are safer, freer, and fuller because of what we chose to do.
That matters.
It’s easy, sometimes, to let one moment define us. One decision. One day. One memory we wish we could rewrite. But our lives are not defined by any single action. They are defined by the sum of our choices — the countless moments where we showed up, stood firm, and did what was right, even when it was hard.
Grief is Love with No where to go. This can become Rage and Rage with no where to go turns inward. The weight you carry becomes the ground you walk on.
These moments live on in the people they touch. In the lives they shape. In the ripple effect of courage, integrity, and sacrifice. Because of those choices — your choices — the world is a little different than it was before. A little better.
And that is no small thing.
Our lives, when you really look at them, reflect the good within us. Not in what we say, but in what we do. In how we show up for others. In how we carry each other when the weight gets heavy.
That’s the measure.
And I know — for many of us — there are things we carry that we don’t talk about. Things that don’t fit into words. Things we’ve buried deep just to keep moving forward.
But hear this:
I hope you heal from all the things you don’t talk about.
You deserve that. Not just because of what you’ve done, but because of who you are.
Today is not just about remembering the past — it’s about recognizing the strength it took to get here, and the strength it still takes to keep going. I have walked alone for so long I did not know how not to be alone. Life was never meant To be conquered alone.
You are not alone. You never were.
And you never will be."
