Bud Marshall kept a small box in his bedroom where he kept several important & sentimental mementos including the medals he had earned for his service in WWII. These medals were very precious to him, particularly the Purple Heart and the Medal for Bravery at Okinawa. He had been exposed to grave danger there and he valiantly persevered and prevailed. The medals conferred on him by his country, meant a great deal to him.
His eight year old son Mark, used to sneak into his father’s room, pry open the box, and play with the medals, even though he wasn’t supposed to. After all, Mark was proud of the medals and proud of his father for courageously earning them.
One day Mark showed them to his friend Brian and they played together with the medals. A few days later Mark snuck into the room, opened the box and was horrified to discover that the medals were gone. He was baffled and afraid to tell his father.
The next day in school, he saw Brian was going around to all the kids, showing them the medals and telling them that his own father had earned those medals. Mark was furious and confounded. He went right to his father, told him the whole story, and asked him what to do, “I’m bigger than Brian, I can go beat him up and get back your medals. Should I do that?”
Mr. Marshall put his arm around Mark and said, “Brian lost his father when he was two years old. The reason he’s doing this is because he wishes he had a father. You’re lucky, you have a father. Let him keep the medals.” (©2013. Printed with permission from Rabbi Baruch Lederman, author of Shulweek www.kehillastorah.org.)
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