What Made Him Special? I Guess It Depends On Your Perspective

I have been wrestling with the death of Cpl. Anthony Boneca and the various reactions we have received from various sources for enough days to make this post likely irrelevant, but I must put my two cents in. (so what’s new)

There have been three different personalities who have reported on the mental state of Cpl. Boneca and each has a bona fide argument, but each has to realize that they were not getting the whole story.

1) His girlfriend and her dad (who probably heard second hand from his daughter) say he was in a living hell.

2) His father who says he was proud of his job, happy to be serving and felt that his son was doing what he wanted to, and

3) His peers, whom are a cross between the two above.

Now I ask you to analyze your past and current jobs. Have you always been happy with them? Have you ever thought you were underpaid or working for a jerk, or hated the conditions? Welcome to the real world. It’s called WORK. It isn’t political, it isn’t a past time that pays you. It’s being productive in society and it’s a paycheck (that should exceed any you could get on the dole or pogey)

Now the assessment.

My wife (#1 … in more ways than one) thinks I am the biggest complainer in the world. Because it is HER I go to with the worst troubles I have with my job. It is her affection and sympathy I seek most when my job gets me down. So if I was to die tomorrow, it would be her that says my job was a torment on my soul.

My father (#2 above), God bless his soul, was the man I wanted most proud of me. The one whom I would stand up and be a man in front of in an effort to gain his approval. The one who would tell you I was happy with the job, the pay, that I was doing alright because that’s how us XY chromosomed types respond to our father figures. “Works okay”, “I am managing fine”, “Things are going good”, “You don’t need to worry about me”, etc. This is how a man responds to his dad when asked “How’s work going?”

My peers and friends (#3 above) are the ones who empathize with me being in a similar generation and similar situation. We share gripes about pay, hardass bosses, etc. But inevitably there is an ego to contend with which gives us a place to brag about our jobs to some extent as well. An overall well balanced place to put our feelings on the job and the environment.

So in light of this, I urge you all to go read this article, written by one of Cpl. Boneca’s co-workers/buddies.

H/T Babbling Brooks