A friend is leaving shortly to run a marathon in France. These words of inspiration are for him, and anyone in pursuit of some lofty goal.

The story is told of a woman who attempted to swim the English Channel. She trained diligently and was fully prepared when she and her team showed up for the thirty-some kilometer challenge.

Throughout the swim, staying on course was made difficult by a dense fog. Worse, the fog made it impossible for the woman to see that the shore was within reach when she finally gave in and asked to be pulled from the water. Sometime later, however, she returned, a clear day, and the sight of the shore in the latter stages of the race compelled her to complete the task.

In any endeavor, as well as in life, we must keep our goals in sight. And we should run as if the goal is always within reach of our next few steps; each step not only attaining a portion of the goal, but also celebrating the victory along the way.

Here are some words of inspiration for another friend, who recently said "farewell" to his 97-year-old father.

It's a poem that a friend gave me when my father passed away a few years ago. I have it taped to a framed photograph in which my dad, then in his 20's, posed with his U.S. Army recruiting class, the Wildcats of the 81st Infantry Div., 321st Regiment, HQ Unit. (see links below)

The Parable of Immortality

I am standing at the seashore. A ship at anchor spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the ocean blue. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to join with each other.

Then someone at my side says: "There, she is gone!"

Gone where?

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side. She is still powerfully surging forward through the waves with the wind full in her sails.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone says, "she is gone," there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes! Welcome home."

It is good that we have friends, here and "there," just beyond the horizon.

Travels of the 81st Infantry Div.

Scenes from Peleliu