Last Friday I attended a viewing for one of our dearest friend’s dad. In addition to being an amazing husband for 62 years, a great dad to his four sons, and a great grandfather, he was also a volunteer firefighter for his local fire department for over 50 years! For 52 years he served his community giving them something significantly more precious than his money—he gave his time.

At the viewing, I watched the entire fire department pay tribute to their fallen hero in so many ways. This was clearly a strong brotherhood and they would be with their comrade until the end. I started to think about how I was serving my community. He gave for 52 years, what was I doing? I couldn’t help but hear President JFK in my ear, “Think not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

My friend’s dad came from a different era. In my eyes, arguably a better era than ours. For today, give some thought to how you are giving back. That generation was not concerned with getting, they wanted to give. They participated. They got involved. They were invested. And watching all those fireman pay their respects showed me that he likely received in many ways that we will never know, and deservedly so. Thank you, Mr Piazza—you inspired me!

With Gratitude,

Beth