Blog 3944 – 09.10.2026

Significant Dates

On this date fifty-six years ago I was nineteen years old and in the Republic of South Vietnam and had just been promoted to the rank of Special 5th Class. It was the highest rank that I ever achieved in the U.S. Army and will be carved on my tombstone when my body rests in a the National Cemetery in Houston, Texas someday in the not too distant future. It will have two dates and a dash in between. Some dates have a special significance to many people like tomorrow’s date September 11th, that will mark the 25th anniversary of the attack on the twin towers in New York City and the Pentagon and the tragic loss of almost three thousand lives. Other dates are more individual, yet still quite memorable to the particular person.

What lay ahead for that young soldier turned out to be quite different than he had planned. The old saying goes that if you if you want to see God laugh make a plan. Some will counter that if you do not plan on something you will never achieve anything. Life does indeed have a way of changing our plans so it is a good idea to have a Plan B or perhaps even a C through Z as a back-up plans

We used to sing a song in the very narrow fundamentalist Christian church that  I grew up in that said:

“God’s way is best, if human wisdom, a fairer way may seem to show, ‘Tis only that our earth-dimmed vision the truth can never clearly know.”

I think every honest soul has questioned that at one point or another and envisioned a “fairer” way at one point or another. I believe our life is about choices we have made, thoughts we choose to dwell on, and baby steps we take in the direction we choose to go.

I have taken my share of wrong turns in life. More than a few of them turned out to be some of my better decisions. Ha

Happy trails to you all. I hope this turns out to be one of those significant dates.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David James White