The meaning of the phrase...

Posted By Blackfive

..."If you can't pick up a rifle, then do SOMETHING to help." is demonstrated here by reader Diana - who is from the UK and living in San Antonio, Texas (it's those Texans, again).

Diana sends this message and proposes an interesting idea:

Dear Blackfive,

Thanks so much for your replies to my e-mails, I hope that you got the spam problem worked out!

I was hoping that you could help me get a small project off the ground (if you think it's worthwhile).
The last 2 weeks have really sucked, media-wise and I have just felt so completely powerless. I needed to feel like I could do something to make a difference. We are still part of Soldiers Angels, but I suppose that I wanted to do something closer to home. So.....I had the bright idea of going round to our local Army/Navy recruiters and taking them some of our special house blend coffee and a big tray of cookies. So today, my manager and I dropped by their offices and gave them the coffee and cookies. No fanfare, no speeches, no waiting around for extended "thankyous".

We typed up a letter on company letterhead saying basically, "Thankyou for your service and hard work" and stated who we are. That way they would know that everything was safe to eat and drink. To be honest, we were a little conflicted about this, we certainly didn't want them to think that we were doing it for advertising and there was also the concern that they would think that we were crazy people!

People who do nice things purely for the recognition make me sick to my stomach, I only wanted to do this because we owe these guys so much. I understand that in our area they work long and hard to make sure that we maintain a healthy level of recruits. I am sure that it is not always a fun job.

I had just got back to the coffee house when the phone started ringing. A lady from something called the Battalion PR department was asking me if she could print our letter in the Battalion newsletter. She also asked me if we could give a free cookie and cup of coffee to the other recruiters if they came to the restaurant. Heck, I would happily buy them all dinner! A little while later, I got two more calls from other offices asking if they could please have coffee and cookies too! I figured it might be smart to look in the phone book and see how many recruiting offices there are in SA, it turns out that there are about 12 for the Army alone. We are hoping that we can take coffee and cookies to any of these good people who would like us to. I haven't felt this good since we helped the Marines at Spirit of America. From now on, I will try not to feel sorry for myself when the news is not so good.

So I was wondering if you could ask your readers to go out and do something nice for a Military recruiter. People could send flowers or cakes, send gift certificates for restaurants or just drop by and say "thankyou for your service".

Most civilians like myself don't get a lot of contact with the Military, but these guys are totally accessible. I sure wouldn't want to put them on the spot or make them feel uncomfortable. I think that people need to keep it low-key, but the men I met today were so happy to get a "thankyou".

In some ways it pisses me off, we owe these guys so much-this shouldn't be such a big deal.

Anyway, I hope that you like the idea.

It is also important to me that you know that we don't do this for any recognition. In fact, I would feel better if it could all be anonymous, but I realise that these days it isn't possible, there are too many crazy people out there.

Thanks for all that you do.

Sincerely,

Diana

Diana has done more this week with cookies and coffee, than I've done in a long time.

Good idea, too, supporting whoever you can and making sure that they feel appreciated.

---

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Comments

The meaning of the phrase...

..."If you can't pick up a rifle, then do SOMETHING to help." is demonstrated here by reader Diana - who is from the UK and living in San Antonio, Texas (it's those Texans, again).

Diana sends this message and proposes an interesting idea:

Dear Blackfive,

Thanks so much for your replies to my e-mails, I hope that you got the spam problem worked out!

I was hoping that you could help me get a small project off the ground (if you think it's worthwhile).
The last 2 weeks have really sucked, media-wise and I have just felt so completely powerless. I needed to feel like I could do something to make a difference. We are still part of Soldiers Angels, but I suppose that I wanted to do something closer to home. So.....I had the bright idea of going round to our local Army/Navy recruiters and taking them some of our special house blend coffee and a big tray of cookies. So today, my manager and I dropped by their offices and gave them the coffee and cookies. No fanfare, no speeches, no waiting around for extended "thankyous".

We typed up a letter on company letterhead saying basically, "Thankyou for your service and hard work" and stated who we are. That way they would know that everything was safe to eat and drink. To be honest, we were a little conflicted about this, we certainly didn't want them to think that we were doing it for advertising and there was also the concern that they would think that we were crazy people!

People who do nice things purely for the recognition make me sick to my stomach, I only wanted to do this because we owe these guys so much. I understand that in our area they work long and hard to make sure that we maintain a healthy level of recruits. I am sure that it is not always a fun job.

I had just got back to the coffee house when the phone started ringing. A lady from something called the Battalion PR department was asking me if she could print our letter in the Battalion newsletter. She also asked me if we could give a free cookie and cup of coffee to the other recruiters if they came to the restaurant. Heck, I would happily buy them all dinner! A little while later, I got two more calls from other offices asking if they could please have coffee and cookies too! I figured it might be smart to look in the phone book and see how many recruiting offices there are in SA, it turns out that there are about 12 for the Army alone. We are hoping that we can take coffee and cookies to any of these good people who would like us to. I haven't felt this good since we helped the Marines at Spirit of America. From now on, I will try not to feel sorry for myself when the news is not so good.

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