A simple article

This is a simple article titled Different is not always bad!
Several years ago while serving in the United States Marines as a Chemical Defense Specialist and a Chemical Ordinance Disposal Technician I was assigned overseas. This was in the early eighties and I had three tours in Vietnam and the Mayguez.
I was a bit different then the mainstream senior enlisted, I had my hair a bit longer then what was appreciated and I wore a bit too much jewelry. There was this one senior Officer that just took a personal disliking to me as I was not his opinion of what a good Marine should look like. This Officer did many things to cause me to loose my temper and do or say something that would cause me personal harm and give him a chance to get rid of me, like extra duty and more after hour duty then average. I took it with a grain of salt and accepted the fact he would rotate back to the mainland in six months.
It just so happened that I was due to go to the rifle and pistol range for requalification, in the Marines we requalify every year. Well to his disappointment I was able to qualify within two points of the range record. Then we ran the Physical Fitness test and I qualified in first class.
In most ground units Chemical Defense was not a priority so when something was cut short on the budget it was Chemical Defense. Everyone did it and no one seemed to care until the month of the Inspector General for Chemical Defense came around. I began by setting up all our chemical equipment and storing it in accordance to all the regulations, then all the bad gear I placed on order. I set up a semi permanent training site and started to train all the personal, this was all entered in their training records and also set up and ran a gas chamber for training. The results were overwhelmingly good, the Colonel in charge of my unit was praised for his exemplary program and he began to farm me out to the other units. They too passed all their inspections, and this was important to them as their promotions were based on their evaluations and this was a big one as it was the Marine Corps Inspector General! I began to get all kind of awards and then all the sudden I was the most popular man in the Unit.
Basically the moral of the story is we need to first wait and watch before we pass judgment, as the old Chinese Proverb goes, see the tree in all seasons before we pass judgment or make a decision on it.
I was at the Keaau Fresh Food store when I noticed this couple in there thirties make a comment on this man that was parked in the handicap parking place, he had a placard all legal, but they commented that the man should have left the spot open for this old Lady. Well when I looked at the situation, I noticed the man that was parked was carrying the groceries out to the car for the little old lady and then he helped her to the car. Then I noticed the man had a limp and I asked about it as he was seemingly well, he then explained he was wounded in Vietnam and had metal hips, his lower vertebra was wore out in his lower back and he wire mesh stomach lining and sometimes he is fine and other he cannot walk. How foolish the folks who so rapidly passed judgment would have or should have felt if they would have taken the time to learn instead of critize.
May we all take a moment before we pass judgment and learn before we put others down!
Love and Respect,
Bishop DR Chuck Sanders, Col.