Six Degrees of Separation from Harry (September Edition)

          The plan was for me to interview and write about Lance Corporal Mark Fidler. My initial contact with Mark brought me to the conclusion that this young hero doesn’t see himself that way, a hero, and didn’t want to be interviewed. He was a man as any number of men and woman in the military or even in civilian life someone who wakes up, throws water on their face, dress, eat and go out and work. Sometimes... yes sometimes something incredibly bad happens. They don’t  look in the mirror and say “Good morning hero”! They do however get up every day and do the same thing over and over again, or are left dealing with the aftermath as in the case of Lance Corporal Mark Fidler.

          Hero is a word which got me thinking; about people who make up these men and woman; who don’t see themselves that way. It also made me ask, how many do we know who are heroes and how close might we be to them.

          There is a theory that we are six degrees of separation from anyone in the world. Some may be famous others not so famous and others...unknown. Those six degrees can best be described in the following examples. First:  I know someone who knows someone who knows a Governor, which equals 3 degrees. Second: I personally worked with Tom Cruise, Sean Penn, Timothy Hutton, Wayne Tippet and Ronny Cox. This equals one degree. Do you know me? That equals 2 degrees.

          In the late 1990’s and going into the new century, my brother had a friend, Harry, who would visit while he was working at his own business  building race cars. Harry would chat and had many stories to tell, of the places he visited, people he knew and his business trips to former communist nations. The visits with my brother occurred many times over many years while he built those drag racing machines.

          Wednesday, 12 September 2001. The country is in shock and reeling from the day before which actually continued right into that day, Wednesday.  It was a day which though a day later really remained 11 September, the longest day. Life, though coming to a stop in much of the nation continued and my brother had a living to make. He was in his shop welding, measuring, fitting etc. Enter the man, wearing Battle Dress Uniform of the U.S. Army. His rank: full Colonel. His job: U.S. Army intelligence. His name: Harry.

          He never let on to anyone what he did. He showed up at his home telling his family what he told my brother. Hi, I have something to tell you. No, not even his family knew.

          Now...look up...at the person nearest you...furthest from you. How well do you know people? Have you ever met a hero? What do they look like? Now look up again. Look at those same people and remember you are only six degrees of separation from Harry.