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This week we got a piece of campaign mail from John McCain with a rather unique Christmas theme based on an experience he had while in captivity in Vietnam. It caught my wife’s eye, as well as mine. Ordinarily these mailers, hardly looked at, just gather in a heap until we toss them out when the pile gets big enough (the pile grows deep and fast right now). This one was different…
As a POW, my captors would tie my arms behind my back and then loop the rope around my neck and ankles so that my head was pulled down between my knees. I was often left like that throughout the night..One night a guard came into my cell. He put his finger to his lips signaling for me to be quiet, and then loosened my ropes to relieve my pain. The next morning, when his shift ended, the guard returned and retightened the ropes, never saying a word to me..A month or so later, on Christmas Day, I was standing in the dirt courtyard when I saw that same guard approach me. He walked up and stood silently next to me, not looking or smiling at me. After a few moments had passed, he rather nonchalantly used his sandaled foot to draw a cross in the dirt. We stood wordlessly looking at the cross, remembering the true light of Christmas, even in the darkness of a Vietnamese prison camp. After a minute or two, he rubbed it out and walked away..That guard was my Good Samaritan. I will never forget that man and I will never forget that moment. And I will never forget that, no matter where you are, no matter how difficult the circumstances, there will always be someone who will pick you up and carry you..May you and your family have a blessed Christmas and Happy Holidays,John McCain
And of course, the accompanying TV ad:
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Again I say, the Christmas political messages don’t bother me (well, except for the Grinch Hillary’s) in the least. I like them a lot. Especially this one from McCain…
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