Modern life and amenities have brought a lot to our everyday lives, but have also taken away just as much. Some customs and habits that were common knowledge once have been forgotten completely. Men don’t get up when a woman leaves the table, nobody holds the door anymore, elders don’t get to be served first at the table.
Not doing any of these things is not wrong in and of itself, but doing them regularly shows a lot of respect for the people around us, our history and tradition.
One of the customs that has been forgotten for the most part is the respect shown when a funeral procession passes by. I would go out on a limb and say that most of the people today don’t even know what the proper procedure for this one is.
That’s why it’s always heartwarming to see people going the extra mile to show respect, and that’s exactly what Erin Hester witnessed on her drive through the town recently.
It was raining cats and dogs, and that’s why it came as a surprise to her that she saw a man standing on the side of the road with his car parked next to him. As she approached, she noticed that the man was a soldier in full uniform who was standing at attention.
Erin tried to figure out why the soldier was doing that, and then she realized that there was a funeral procession driving by slowly.
The moment she saw that she pulled over to the side of the road as well to pay her respects. Later, when she got home, she shared what happened with her friends on Facebook.
"I was so completely touched by this today. A funeral procession was passing by and this soldier got out of his jeep to…
Posted by Love What Matters on Montag, 10. Juli 2017
“I always get frustrated when I see cars that don’t pull to the side and stop for a procession,” she wrote, “but this gentleman went above and beyond.”
Erin also said that she was “pretty confident” that no rules obliged the soldier to do so – and we weren’t able to find any either – and that this gentleman was doing this simply because it was an honorable and respectful thing to do.
“This made my heart happy to see the amount of respect that this gentleman showed a family that he doesn’t even know,” she said.
A lot of people were touched by Erin’s story and reacted to it.
Brandi Guillet commented, “I’m so glad you captured this. This young man was raised [with] love and respect in his heart.”
Other people shared their own stories of similar experiences and wrote how much such respectful gestures touched them.
“When my dad passed away we were following the casket through a not wonderful side of town.. we passed a bus stop and a man who was waiting for the bus stood up and took off his hat,” Victoria Archibeque recalled. “I cried and it took everything I had to not go hug him. It’s amazing when someone does something for nothing in return.”
We will probably never find out the soldier’s name and that is really not important because he didn’t do what he did for fame. He did it simply because it was the right thing to do. Because he was brought up to be honorable and respectful.
What we do know is that he probably doesn’t have the slightest clue about how much his action has meant to the grieving family and all the other people who saw him there on that day.
Where you touched by this soldier’s action? Do you think that we need to bring some of these lovely, old traditions back? If so, share the story with your friends today!
