Congratulations FY 2014 Chief Selects MAC(SEL) Jessica Brown, BMC(SEL) Bob Didier, NDC(SEL) Christopher Kerr, UTC(SEL) Jacob Waggoner, AMC(SEL) Christopher Rice, MAC(SEL) Joshua Bright
Chaplain’s
Corner
Cmdr. Gabriel Mensah NS Guantanamo Bay Command Chaplain
“Be Unique” Grow ing up as child ren, ma ny of us ha d p are n ts w h o i ns t i lle d i n u s a sense of confid enc e – the t h i n k i n g t hat no m atter how blea k things we re , the y co u l d o nly ge t be t t er. I w ill never for get grow i n g u p a s a l i tt le boy, whe never I lost a soccer ga me, m y Dad w ou l d com e up t o me a nd pa t me on the bac k an d s a y : “ Don’t worr y, son, we w ill get them nex t ti m e .” Wi th out t h e s uppor t a nd encour a gement m o s t o f u s g ot as childre n from our pa rents, gr a n d p are n ts a n d f a m ily, our li t t le w or ld s would ha ve spu n o u t o f co n t ro l . Bu t now t h at we a re a d ults, wha t d o we d o w he n circ u ms t ance s m ak e it look like the wa lls a re c avi n g
i n ? W hat d o we d o w he n c hao s an d tu rmo i l s e e m t o b e the n o r m ? Pe r hap s s o m e o f u s have g o n e t h ro u g h a tr age d y that has tu r n e d o u r l i ve s an d t h o s e o f o u r f am i l i e s u p s i d e d ow n . T hi n ki n g ab o u t a l l t h e c h a o s an d tu r m o i l m i g ht m ake o n e w o n d e r w h e t h e r t h e re i s l i ght at the e n d o f the tu n n e l . Le t m e m ake a s u g ge s ti o n . Rathe r t h a n t r y i n g t o c o m e u p w i th an s we r s as to w hy tr a g e di e s e x i s t i n o u r l i ve s , p e r hap s we c an m o d i f y how we re s p o n d w he n tr age d y s tr i ke s . In s te ad o f t h row i n g o u r han d s u p i n the ai r an d g i vi n g u p, we c a n re l y o n Am e r i c an i n ge n u i ty an d re s i l i e n c y. Re me mb e r w h a t hap p e n e d r i ght af te r 9 / 1 1 twe l ve ye ar s a g o ? W h e n a l l s e e m e d b l e ak, we p u l l e d to ge the r as a n a t i o n , a n d we s u c c e e d e d . T hi s i s w hat Am e r i c an s d o b e s t !
Cm d r. Gab r i e l Me n s ah