- Joined
- Jun 4, 2002
- Messages
- 3,930
I miss Uncle Bill, and the recent thread mentioning him reminded me how much. So, I'd like to share a little story with y'all that illustrates not only how much Uncle cared for others, but also his open mindedness in how he viewed the world.
Let me preface by saying I am not Catholic, but I am respectful of the religious beliefs of others, and I hope not to offend anyone through my touching on aspects of the Catholic faith, however indirectly.
One day in Afghanistan, after the mail had been off-loaded from a C-130 and sorted out by unit, I discovered there was a package for me. It was a small package from Uncle Bill, containing three things, a letter, a bit of knotted cord, and a small silver colored religious medal that I couldn't make heads or tails of, as all the writing on it was in Latin. In the letter I read that Uncle Bill had been worrying about me, and was concerned for my safety, so he had taken measures to obtain these things and send them to me, to help protect me and my guys.
The knotted cord turned out to be a very sacred object to Uncle Bill, a thing called a Sungde, ritually prepared by a Lama during an intense session of meditation and prayer. Each knot in the cord contains a prayer, placed there with great concentration and intent by the Lama, in this case a prominent holy man Uncle Bill was fortunate enough to meet in his travels. Uncle Bill instructed that I need not carry the Sungde on my person, that as long as I kept it in camp, it's blessings and protective powers would encompass all in the camp. Believe as you like, but we had our share of close calls and hairy encounters over there, and every last one of my guys came home without a scratch on 'em.
Then there was the little silver medal, which I found profoundly mysterious. Why would Uncle Bill, a devout Buddhist, send me a religious item of Catholic origin? His explanation was sketchy at best, he did mention that he'd been much impressed by the work of the Benedictine monks, and without fully understanding why himself, knew that there was something about the medal of Saint Benedict that would help protect me. I was astounded. You can't just pop by the corner store and pick one of these things up. That Uncle Bill had felt strongly enough about the thing to go out of his way to get me one, was, to say the least, kind of odd. But Uncle Bill's view of the world was not black and white, or clouded by prejudisms, he'd sensed something important, and just knew that it was, without needing to fully understand why. So, he got the medal and sent it to me.
Not being Catholic, or having any prior exposure to patron saint medals, I had no understanding of their significance, and thought they were just religious jewelry. But I trusted Uncle Bill, and so I carried it and still do. Recently I got curious, and did some in-depth looking into this medal of Saint Benedict. Don't know what got me curious, and I don't know why I hadn't looked into it sooner, but there, on the Benedictine Order's website, I found some answers to a several year old mystery. The medal of Saint Benedict is not just a piece of jewelry, it is, in point of fact, a sacred object. As I mentioned, I am not Catholic, but I do respect the religious beliefs of others, and I definitely respect the sanctity of sacred items and places, regardless of their religious origin. While in Afghanistan, I was able to secure a fragment of the Bamiyan Buddha, that had been destroyed by the Taliban. To the casual observer it just looked like a hunk of rock, but I knew that as part of a sacred object the fragment itself was sacred, so I treated it with great care and reverence until I could send it to Uncle Bill.
Good old Uncle Bill. It wasn't just an object, a protective talisman, that he had sent me, but a lesson. The lesson is that the sacred and divine exists not because of the borders, boundaries, or interpretations we set, but in spite of them. It didn't bother him a bit that the medal was an object from a religion other than his own. He only saw faith and goodness, and wanted to share it with someone he cared about.
Here is the medal he sent me;
And here is the link to the page from the Order of Saint Benedict that explains the medal's origin, meanings, and importance.
http://www.osb.org/gen/medal.html
I'm not suggesting that anybody will benefit by simply getting one of these medals and wearing it. Something that's sacred is not sacred because of what it is, but because of what it represents. However, mine is a keepsake, worn as a reminder of a good man, and made all the more special by a new understanding of it's origin and meaning.
We miss you Uncle,
Sarge
Let me preface by saying I am not Catholic, but I am respectful of the religious beliefs of others, and I hope not to offend anyone through my touching on aspects of the Catholic faith, however indirectly.
One day in Afghanistan, after the mail had been off-loaded from a C-130 and sorted out by unit, I discovered there was a package for me. It was a small package from Uncle Bill, containing three things, a letter, a bit of knotted cord, and a small silver colored religious medal that I couldn't make heads or tails of, as all the writing on it was in Latin. In the letter I read that Uncle Bill had been worrying about me, and was concerned for my safety, so he had taken measures to obtain these things and send them to me, to help protect me and my guys.
The knotted cord turned out to be a very sacred object to Uncle Bill, a thing called a Sungde, ritually prepared by a Lama during an intense session of meditation and prayer. Each knot in the cord contains a prayer, placed there with great concentration and intent by the Lama, in this case a prominent holy man Uncle Bill was fortunate enough to meet in his travels. Uncle Bill instructed that I need not carry the Sungde on my person, that as long as I kept it in camp, it's blessings and protective powers would encompass all in the camp. Believe as you like, but we had our share of close calls and hairy encounters over there, and every last one of my guys came home without a scratch on 'em.
Then there was the little silver medal, which I found profoundly mysterious. Why would Uncle Bill, a devout Buddhist, send me a religious item of Catholic origin? His explanation was sketchy at best, he did mention that he'd been much impressed by the work of the Benedictine monks, and without fully understanding why himself, knew that there was something about the medal of Saint Benedict that would help protect me. I was astounded. You can't just pop by the corner store and pick one of these things up. That Uncle Bill had felt strongly enough about the thing to go out of his way to get me one, was, to say the least, kind of odd. But Uncle Bill's view of the world was not black and white, or clouded by prejudisms, he'd sensed something important, and just knew that it was, without needing to fully understand why. So, he got the medal and sent it to me.
Not being Catholic, or having any prior exposure to patron saint medals, I had no understanding of their significance, and thought they were just religious jewelry. But I trusted Uncle Bill, and so I carried it and still do. Recently I got curious, and did some in-depth looking into this medal of Saint Benedict. Don't know what got me curious, and I don't know why I hadn't looked into it sooner, but there, on the Benedictine Order's website, I found some answers to a several year old mystery. The medal of Saint Benedict is not just a piece of jewelry, it is, in point of fact, a sacred object. As I mentioned, I am not Catholic, but I do respect the religious beliefs of others, and I definitely respect the sanctity of sacred items and places, regardless of their religious origin. While in Afghanistan, I was able to secure a fragment of the Bamiyan Buddha, that had been destroyed by the Taliban. To the casual observer it just looked like a hunk of rock, but I knew that as part of a sacred object the fragment itself was sacred, so I treated it with great care and reverence until I could send it to Uncle Bill.
Good old Uncle Bill. It wasn't just an object, a protective talisman, that he had sent me, but a lesson. The lesson is that the sacred and divine exists not because of the borders, boundaries, or interpretations we set, but in spite of them. It didn't bother him a bit that the medal was an object from a religion other than his own. He only saw faith and goodness, and wanted to share it with someone he cared about.
Here is the medal he sent me;
And here is the link to the page from the Order of Saint Benedict that explains the medal's origin, meanings, and importance.
http://www.osb.org/gen/medal.html
I'm not suggesting that anybody will benefit by simply getting one of these medals and wearing it. Something that's sacred is not sacred because of what it is, but because of what it represents. However, mine is a keepsake, worn as a reminder of a good man, and made all the more special by a new understanding of it's origin and meaning.
We miss you Uncle,
Sarge
