Met a man from THE beach today

Just when I think I'm having an insanely busy day and my life is so hectic and stressful, something happens to me that makes me feel like a selfish, self-centered fool.

Today, I went to the Philadelphia Parking Authority to get a parking permit for my new car. (A Toyota Camry, pictures in a bit.) I'm standing in line and I hear a guy complaining in a good-natured way about the PPA giving him an undeserved $125 parking ticket. When the lady asks him for his license plate number, he tells her POW something (the plate above isn't his!) and she asks him, "Were you a prisoner of war?" and he replies, "You got it - you're looking at a veteran of Omaha Beach." This perked my ears up, since I enjoy reading and learning about World War II so much.

I saw he was ready to leave, so I hurried up with my paper work, and rode the elevator down with him. As we stepped into the elevator, it was just the two of us, and I extended my hand, telling him, "It's not every day I get to meet a veteran from Omaha Beach." He shook it and began telling me a few tidbits from his experiences during WWII.

"We had 225 soldiers when we stormed the beach," he said. "Four hours later, we had 23." Unbelievable and believable, all in the same sentence.

"I caught some shrapnel at the Siegfried Line, and when I woke up, I was in a German POW camp," he continued. "When I got out of the camp, I weighed 90 pounds." Wow.

I looked at him and said, "It may not mean much coming from me, but thanks." Typical of his generation, he said, "Well, we were just doing our jobs. I never asked for anything for 50 years, but when I got sick I went to the VA hospital and they paid for everything."

At a loss for words, I told him, "As well they should."

He then brought me over to his car and showed me his license plate like the one at top. I told him, "It's people like you that make America great."

He thanked me and we went our separate ways.

And the whole experience made me think of how insignificant and stupid my problems are, and I had a tooth drilled for two hours today, so it wasn't the best of days. But, you know what? I don't have problems. I have luck - luck that I was born into a country with men like the man I met today at the Philadelphia Parking Authority.