Boots On

Redwood Times

A Pastor’s Perspective

By Sharon Latour

I decided to take a drive today, the morning after a long talk with my Air Force Catholic chaplain friend, Father Tim. You might recall he is the heroic priest who was the senior chaplain on duty at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, during and after Hurricane Katrina.

Well, Father Tim is about to close his subsequent assignment at Columbus AFB, a pilot training base in rural Mississippi, by supervising the funeral of two student pilots who crashed there last week. Then he’ll leave on a 4-month deployment to Iraq.

Though Tim’s already seen duty in Afghanistan and two other hard-to-spell Middle East places, he said it’s his turn to “do Iraq,” now. And he has misgivings about how safe it will be, but it’s his turn, so he’s going.

My thought-filled drive took me to Eureka, and I passed by the place, marked by a small handful of red flowers and paint sprayed on the asphalt, where Supervisor Roger Rodoni’s vehicle left the highway just outside Scotia, where he was born.

I slowed down and prayed for his family and so many friends who would attend the memorial service in Ferndale.

The published reflections about his life of faithful service have helped me appreciate a man I saw across the Redway post office parking lot only once, as I never had the opportunity to meet him. I’d wanted to go by his Garberville office, when he was slated to be keeping hours there, but I hadn’t yet managed to.

We know there is no way to compare one life to another, but as I drove to Eureka and back, I thought about how young the airmen were; how much of life was supposed to be still ahead for them. Both of the airmen, if you added the sum of their years, would not nearly add up to Roger’s age. And even if you added both their life experiences together, I’m sure wouldn’t add up to Supervisor Rodoni’s experience; especially in how Roger had translated experience into wisdom and leadership.

It’s unbelievable to see some die before their lives have really started; and to lose someone who, by all accounts, was truly at the top of his game in the tough and compromise-filled world of politics. A faithful and true servant of the people is gone.

So, we just stop in our tracks and feel loss. Some of us notice that, once again, we’re really not in charge. And we sure don’t have satisfactory answers as to “Why?”

But, through Father Tim who is going into harm’s way because they need a senior chaplain at the Air Base, through two student pilots who willingly put their young lives on the line, and through Mr. Rodoni who, from an authentic place of unusual integrity, served as our Supervisor for over a decade, we have been immeasurably enriched.

To me, the greatest tribute we might pay is for each of us to raise our personal game a notch. To honor the service members and the public servants who die with their boots on, let’s try to serve each other better today than we did yesterday. It’s the only nearly-adequate response that comes to my mind.

Shalom (A blessing for your wholeness, in every way.)

(Note for Friday Night Youth high schoolers and volunteers: We’ll plan to watch “Gandhi” this Friday at 7 p.m. after dinner at the Community Presbyterian Church in Garberville.)

Sharon is pastor of the Garberville Community Presbyterian Church. Services are open to all on Sundays at 11 a.m. Comments or questions should be addressed to: Dr. Sharon Latour, c/o A Pastor’s Perspective, P.O. Box 65, Garberville, CA 95542. (707) 923-3295.