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Veterans Day Project

It's The Little Things

July 31, 2018 | Karma Metzler Fitzgerald

You never know the difference you can make.

I think sometimes we look for heroic acts to make a positive impact. More and more I’ve come to realize it’s the little things that make the difference. Small gestures, kind words, gentle smiles… that’s where the magic is. 

The thing is… sometimes you can make a difference in someone’s life and never know. 

Recently, I’ve become involved in a bit of mystery that rather nicely proves my point.

(I’m going to keep some details vague to protect the privacy of those involved.)

A few months ago, a Vietnam veteran asked for my help.  He told me back in 1970, on Christmas morning, he received a form letter written by a school girl. You know, one of those letters kids write as a class project and they get randomly delivered to the military as a way of showing support.

You Just Never Know: It's the Little Things

September 19, 2018 | Karma Metzler Fitzgerald

It was just a simple classroom assignment.

DC had just returned to school after being out for a tonsillectomy. In her 6th grade classroom, she did as instructed that day in late 1970.  She wrote a letter to a solider. She said the teacher always organized that sort of thing at St. Mark's Lutheran School.

"We had three very fine teachers who were also missionaries and they always had us writing to someone," she said.

She vividly remembers writing the letter on the light blue paper. All the students wrote one. But the war was more than a classroom assignment for DC. Her father was in Vietnam -- held prisoner. The day she wrote the letter was also the day she received a silver POW bracelet -- she still has the bracelet today.

She handed her assignment to her teacher and went about her life. She was 12.

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