Islands and Oceans
Reflecting on our common connections.
Photo by Ahmed Yaaniu on Unsplash
Are you kidding?
The Gunnery Sergeant stood quietly in front of the classroom as we waited for him to announce our fates.
A year of the most rigorous and intense technical training in the United States military was behind us. All that was left was to receive our ‘orders’ as to where we’d go for our permanent duty station.
There was little surprise in store for me. My training was in electronic countermeasures, and most Marines trained in that specialty were sent to Cherry Point, North Carolina.
As the Honor Man, finishing first in my class, my name would be read last.
“Marlow,” the Gunny barked.
I stood.
“You’re going to Cherry Point for I-level training and then to,” pausing as he flipped the page, “Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station, Hawaii, for permanent duty.”
“Are you kidding?”
The Gunny, a Vietnam combat veteran, shot me a look of disapproval and said, “Corporal Marlow, I don’t, kid.”
We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.
William James
Moving to Hawaii was the adventure of a lifetime for a kid from landlocked Indiana who had only taken his first plane ride a year before.
People often ask how long I lived there; my answer is the three shortest years of my life.
While I lived on Oahu, we visited the other islands. Each one is unique in its way. Yet they are connected culturally and physically below the surface, part of the same volcanic eruptions on the ocean floor.
Reading William James prompted this memory. Like the Hawaiian Islands, we are all separate and distinct people separated on the surface but connected in the deep.
Of course thank you for your service David as our only son (four daughters) is an officer in the Navy. Among other duties the Navy provides transport service for the Marines as you know and the Marines are part of the Navy ;) I had gone to Hawaii for our honeymoon to Maui and visited one of the islands to see the Pearl Harbor Memorial out of duty then and respect for those that gave their lives. Yes we are connected as islands and yet distinct within ourselves and having a free-will and soul to do what is right in our relationship with ourselves, our Creator and others. I see it as a lesson to be true to oneself in harmony with others to the best of our ability!