Monday, November 24, 2008

THANKSGIVING DAY EVERY WEEK

Every Friday night, until his death in 1973, old Eddie walked to the pier with a large bucket of shrimp. The sea gulls would flock to him and he would feed them. Many years before, in October, 1942, this same man, then a much younger man known as Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, was on a mission in a B-17 to deliver an important message to General Douglas MacArthur in New Guinea.

But somewhere over the South Pacific his Flying Fortress became lost beyond the reach of radio. Fuel ran out, so the men ditched their plane in the ocean. For nearly a month Captain Eddie and his companions would fight the water, weather, and scorching sun. They spent many sleepless nights as giant sharks rammed their rafts. The largest raft was nine by five, the biggest shark, ten feet long.

But of all their enemies at sea, the one proved most formidable was starvation. Eight days out, their rations were gone, and it would take a miracle to sustain them. And a miracle did occur. Captain William Cherry had finished Bible reading and a prayer for deliverance and they had sung a hymn of praise. With hats pulled down over their eyes to keep out some of the glare, the men tried to doze off.

But then something landed on Captain Eddie's head, and somehow he knew it was a sea gull. He and his men stared at the big bird, for it meant food. Captain Eddie caught the seagull. Its flesh was eaten. Its intestines were used for bait to catch fish. The survivors were sustained and they were all rescued because one lone sea gull, hundreds of miles from land, offered itself as a sacrifice.

Captain Eddie made it back and he never forgot. After he retired and until he died, every Friday evening, at about sunset, the old man filled his bucket to feed the gulls, and to remember that one which, on a day long past, gave itself without a struggle, like manna in the wilderness, so all could live. And until he died, he never neglected to give them thanks.

Now that's something to remember on Thanksgiving Day!

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