It could be about anyone...
This pieces was on the Associated Press wire today. It could go into the America/World News forum, but I've posted it here because it's an overall testiony to the human spirit. It happens to be about a Navy SEAL, but could have been about a teacher, a rescue worker, cop, actor, or someone in any profession that they loved.
Navy SEAL died doing what he loved
By Sonja Barisic
Associated Press - Sat, Mar. 09, 2002
NORFOLK, Va. - The Navy SEAL who was slain after falling out of his stricken helicopter in Afghanistan wrote his wife an open-in-the-event-of-my-death letter in which he assured her: "I died doing what made me happy."
"Although I sacrificed personal freedom and many other things, I got just as much as I gave. My time in the Teams was special," Neil Roberts, 32, wrote. "For all the times I was cold, wet, tired, sore, scared, hungry and angry, I had a blast."
Roberts, a Norfolk-based petty officer first class from Woodland, Calif., was one of seven Americans who died Monday after U.S. helicopters were hit by enemy gunfire in Afghanistan. He was the first member of the Navy to be killed in the war.
Roberts fell to the ground as his helicopter, hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, veered away toward safer ground. He apparently survived the fall and was shot on the ground.
Roberts joined the Navy after graduating from high school in 1987 and served in the Persian Gulf war.
The Roberts family is grieving in private, but friend Christina Kalassay released a portion of the letter because Roberts' widow, Patty, wanted to tell people a little bit about her husband, the father of her 18-month-old son.
"Neil would want everyone to remember him as a loving husband and father, a loving son and brother, a true friend and warrior who never once questioned his commitment to his family or his country," Kalassay said in a statement.
Roberts, who had a twin brother and 10 other siblings, wrote in his letter that he treasured his childhood and that his family's support and care made him the person he was. He also expressed how much being in the Navy meant to him.
"I loved being a SEAL," he wrote. "If I died doing something for the Teams, then I died doing what made me happy. Very few people have the luxury of that."
