Jimmy Hatch served 25 years and 11 months in the US Navy. The majority of that time was as a part of Naval Special Warfare. He deployed multiple times to combat zones as a shooter and as a K9 handler. He is the Founder of Spike’s K9 Fund, a 501c3 that takes care of working K9’s.
He is also the author of Touching the Dragon and Other Techniques for Surviving Life’s Wars.
Memorial Day is a difficult day. It is sadness and loss juxtaposed with the onset of the summer. We have picnics and parties. We have graveyard visits and somber memories.
To me, it is a day when I remind myself of the lives lost in an effort to secure our way of life. That way of life is one based on optimism. The optimism that no matter who you are, with hard work, you can make something of yourself. In my heart, I believe that my friends who died fighting - all of them post 9/11 - died doing something that they thought would help ensure that those of us left behind will make something of ourselves.
It is because of their sacrifice that we are OBLIGATED to live our lives fully.
Ernest Hemingway wrote something along the lines of “bullfighters are the only humans who truly live their life full.”
I disagree with his opinion on who actually lives their life full, but I admire that idea. My life is a cup and I need to fill it up because I have been given the opportunity to do so.
I actually OWE it to my buddies who were killed serving.
They would be angry if I wasted my opportunity. I would disrespect them if I didn’t give a full effort.
On Memorial Day, I pledge that I will.
You should too.
Read more about Jimmy Hatch in The Cipher Brief… How Jimmy Hatch Touched the Dragon and Survived and Memorial Dogs
