Theme: Week Two

I will be remembered. That is the voice that echo's in my mind and has since I can remember. I guess that everyone must think the same thing in one way or another. Some may wish only to be remembered by those close to them; while others want the world to know them, and remember what they have done. I find myself drawn to the later group; wishing to leave a mark on the empty slate that is the world.
I was born in October of 1983 to parents in their very early twenty's. My mother tells me that she was watching the movie Excaliber that night, as Morgan Le Fay gave birth to Mordred under the thunder and lightning above. Obviously, i'm hoping this wasn't symbolic of what was to come but as it began to to thunder that evening my mother (Morgen) went into labor. Apparantly, as my mother was giving birth the placenta was blocking the passage and the doctors thought that they would have to cut me out, only to be shocked when I kicked the obstical out of the way and made my entrance in to this world. I grew up in a family of ten, sharing a room with my three younger brothers. When I was five I was dubbed the family devil for having told my very christian aunt that "I liked the devil". I aquired a reputation for being a bit of an adventurer when it came to other people's homes, and frequenly would borrow things that caught my eye from relatives; "hide your crap, he's coming" became the family moto. I began visiting my grandfather, every summer, around the time that I was twelve. He would have me memorize the writings of great authors, and instruct me on the ways of the world; much to my mother's distress. I would come home full of ideas, and questions about history and where I fit in. As the years went by, I began to realize that history was but one man's view. I began to realize that I could write my own history and didn't need to mold myself after those who had come before me. My grandfather used to tell me "the lives of great men all remind us we should make sublime our lives and leave behind us footprints in the sands of time", a statement which I have often remembered in my later years. Up to this point, I don't believe that I had made any imprint on the history of the world; but armed with these ideas I set out. Joining the army after i finished highschool, I worked my way through the ranks and was deployed to Iraq. Now I knew, that many men had made their names in war, and that this may be my only opportunity. I went to Iraq with nothing buy my destiny on my mind only to find a place that was unexpected. I had pictured the battles of Alexander the Great, and of Caeser; yet I found a very different thing. I found a war in which i spent most of my time sitting on my cote, or in a guard tower. The cold truth of the matter was that war is long periods of boredom followed by sudden moments of intensity often from an enemy un identifiable. It was frustrating to me, how was I to test myself in the face of fear if I couldn't see my enemies. I made up for this by applying all of my rage and drive to military knowledge and execution boards. In the end, the only mark that I had made was a small one, I was in the military record books as one of the many NCO's of the Year that my unit had fielded for my division. So far my plan to make a mark on history was not working out very well. It was further aggrevated when I learned that my body was not handling my drive as well as I had expected; I was medically discharged from the military when they discovered a spinal injury I had incured in Iraq and suddenly I was out. I found myself in an unfimiliar and unexpected place with no idea what I was going to do. Since that time I am yet to make my mark on history; i'm working on it though. I'm applying that same drive that I did in the military to my schooling and i'm doing well. I've got one year left and i'll have my bachelors degree. I'm preparing now to make my mark on the economic world rather than the military. I've learned something from all this however, i've become more sensitive since the military and i'm glad. When I started i wanted to make a mark for myself; now I can see that there are greater causes; now I just want to do my part, whatever that may be, to help mankind become better. I want to make history for the generations to come, and if that history starts with my name fine, but if it doesn't and i'm just a small part of that history, i'll be just as happy.