Living in a Bubble, a short rant on this weekend before Veteran's Day

We all live inside the bubble we create. I work in the homes of a variety of people, I am related to some real characters and I know it is very easy to become, 'bubble bound'.  It is easy to get routine in our day to day and forget there is a whole world operating outside of our line of sight that do not have what we have, know what we know or the ability to obtain either.

I see a lot of different people and hear some interesting statements being made by people with little or no experience outside of their bubble, daily, even before I turn on the television!  So, when TMZ was playing in the background and I heard someone quote Tom Cruise saying his location shoots were just like being in Afghanistan, I chuckled a bit.  His bubble is small and thick, if that is his belief!  Was someone shooting at Tom Cruise with live ammo and I never heard about it?

(no photograph of Mr. Cruise will be posted here, it's a personal choice!)

I mean to say, if he thinks something in his head is clever and he says it out loud and it still sounds clever, he should get out more!  

Maybe, he should ask a veteran with no legs if shooting a film where he is trained, insured and guarded from real danger is just like having your legs blown off.  

Being in combat is not like making a movie, like being in jail or watching a movie in jail!  It is something like being in a foreign country where people want to kill you and trying to move forward for the good of a nation while NOT getting killed, if possible.

I tell you, I would rather have a combat injured, legless veteran with REAL skills in my camp after a grid down event than a Hollywood movie star who thinks he's special because he pays people to tell him he is!

Even if the world is all peaches and fairies for the next forty years and you don't need a skilled warrior to train the young or protect the core group while the patrols are out, a veteran has a world of good to offer a community, a company, a country.  An injured combat experienced veteran IS the real deal.

A combat injured veteran already has the training to survive, to adapt to overcome and has proven their ability to exercise those skills.  You would hardly see that veteran cry because his or her latte has gone cold.  You could count on that veteran to show up, grateful to continue to do whatever job placed before them, so long as they felt respected and needed.  

A combat veteran can cope with the hurry up and wait, the heat, the cold, the lack of proper food, water and equipment and STILL carry on while they are being fired upon!  Given an opportunity, that same veteran could move a mountain, you just have to tell them where you want it and thank them for moving it in such a neat and military fashion, while they say yes, ma'am and yes, sir!  

Veteran's don't ask for the thank you or the 'good job!".  But it wouldn't kill us to break out of our bubbles and say thank you, job well done.