Several years ago, I was visiting a church with one of my brothers. He had only been a civilian for a couple of months. Since it was around Memorial Day, the church was singing patriotic songs and had red, white, and blue decorations around the Sanctuary and covering their programs.
In the middle of the service, they called on the people in the congregation to stand up if they were currently serving or had ever spent time serving in the military. They called out the different branches and the rest of the people in the room clapped in appreciation.
My brother had a very solemn look on his face as he sat there, glued to his chair. I assumed it was because we weren’t regular attenders of this church, so I started nudging him to stand up anyway. Being a proud sister (each of my three brothers have served in the Army), I wanted him to receive some recognition for his service to his country too. He swiftly shook his head in a way I knew to drop it and we continued to clap for those standing before the service moved on.
Later on, I asked him about it. I was expecting my somewhat reserved brother to tell me something like, “you know I don’t like attention,” but that’s when he taught me a couple of lessons instead.
