This is not my normal type blog post. I am not a gamer, and I am normally apolitical in my posts.
I have a relative who is a career Foreign Service person representing our country. I won't say in what position, and I won't say in which country, except to say that my relative is currently posted in a country that is experiencing violence related to the happenings recently in Libya and Egypt. (I won't say where, except that it is not in Libya or Egypt. I think it is pretty safe to say that.)
This person's spouse was a friend of one of the American dead from these occurrences, and as this person mourns the death of a friend, Sean Smith, I wanted to communicate something to my readers that I was told.
Many of us don't realize what Foreign Service people do. Their mission is to represent the United States, sometimes in very difficult living conditions, and sometimes in very hostile populations. Their lives are not easy. They do not live in the lap of luxury. They are sometimes in a lot of danger. They do their best. They are professionals.
They will not cower before terrorists. My relative's spouse made that very clear.
This is one of those times. My relative's spouse and children are there. Maybe they will be evacuated. I don't know yet.
If you are a citizen of the United States (like me), please keep these professionals in your thoughts and prayers tonight and every night. You don't know my relative and you don't know the co-workers and colleagues, but know that they work every day for us, and are now in danger.
And, since life holds surprises, many are surprised to find that the late Sean Smith, among his various interests, was an online gamer. I have never participated in those types of games (FarmVille is more my speed) but tonight, gamers are gathering to pay tribute to the man they knew as Vile Rat.
Rest in peace, Sean.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
3 comments:
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Thanks for the kind comments. All of us in the service are mourning today, and it helps to know that the Americans we serve also understand. If you are interested, I wrote this piece about Ambassador Stevens, who was my friend.
ReplyDeletehttp://lifeafterjerusalem.blogspot.com/2012/09/who-chris-was-to-me.html
Digger, I visited your blog post - thank you so much - and to all of my readers, I highly recommend clicking on the link in the above comments. (I normally don't encourage links in comments but this one was well worth the time!)
DeleteIt's a shame that it takes a crisis or tragedy such as this to make us aware and appreciative of all these people do for their country. We should keep them in our prayers on a regular basis, right along with our military troops.
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