Thanks a Million! Thanks a Billion!

Thoughts from Dr. Joe by Dr. Joe Puglia

How does one begin to say “thanks” to all those who contributed cookies for our dear soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan? For the past two days, I’ve being trying to think of a way to do this and since, my only tools are words, I find it practically impossible to convey the appropriate sentiment. I stare into a blank screen.

So again I went to Penelope’s Café and sought the wisdom of a chi latte, and stared long and hard into the steamy foam. And as I clutched the heavy ceramic cup absorbing the fragrances of the tea, I found the answer?”Thank you!”

Thank you little Girl Scouts who wear the uniforms and collected those extra boxes of cookies by going door to door and standing in front of Vons and Ralphs. Remember, it’s easy to raise your hand and profess the virtues of Scouting. But when you live those virtues, you become those virtues. You sure walked the walk.

Thank you scout leaders. You thought that sending a box of cookies to a lonely soldier was a good idea. You obviously championed this cause. As a leader of scouts, is there a “charge” more important than building good citizens? Thanks for modeling the behaviors that make good citizens.

Thanks La Cañada, La Crescenta and Glendale. You wrote those checks and paid those “four dollar” bills for those cookies for the troops. You are the ones who “pay the fiddler,” supporting the myriad of enthusiasms that knock on your door. Without you, there would be no ‘’heaven and earth.” It is you who sustain the great devotions of life. If it were not for you, we could never knock.

Cadet Scout Alexis deLucia from Sunland, with the support of her church, First Christian, went above and beyond the call of duty. Thanks, Joanna Linkchorst in La Crescenta, Mikail Bronson in Malibu, Dave Dolbee in Van Nuys, Victor Castellanos in Sacramento and Michelle Poncetta at UCLA for all your effort.

Thank you, Valley Sun for agreeing to act as a collection point for the cookies and for being the light in the belfry arch, running those ads that got the word out. “One if by land, two if by sea by land”?brought the “militia.”

Thank you to my friends, who, when I asked, didn’t even blink an eye. I asked for eight bucks and you usually gave me $50 or more. I came to you first ‘cause I felt most secure, and when I left, I felt more so. Thanks a million, thanks a billion!

Thank you, my former students. The crazy letter I wrote you asking you to ante up as payback for the myriad ties between a teacher and a student ? you answered with a sea of beautiful letters containing checks. For many of you, it had been years since you were my student, but you still remembered Kipling. You are indeed, “The Thousandth Man.” I guess the ‘A’ I gave you prior to your navigation of the final was not for naught. “Stay gold my dear students, stay gold!” And you answered?”Staying gold, Dr. Joe!”

Thank you, my current students! You knew I wouldn’t ask, but when you saw me walking around the campus carrying those cookies, you asked. “Hey, Dr. Joe, can I buy a box for the troops?” You will fare well; you have an intuitive eye for a good cause.

Here’s a heads up: This time next year, if our soldiers are still in harm’s way, we will have to do this again. So let’s say a prayer, or give the heavens a second glance and ask that next year we won’t have to.

Let me leave you with this thought. These cookies are not only for the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Symbolically, the cookies that we will send are also for the faces I knew over 35 years ago. Faces, dirty and sweaty, plastered with big grins that hid their fears. What they feared most was never the enemy, it was the fear of being abandoned. Well here you go boys ? cookies from home: Barlow! Jones! Kennedy! Kay! Cunnion! Cestone! Feldman! Lihue! Milbrant! Stoa! Jarhaus! Quilman! Sorry boys they been a long time coming ? came a bit late, but they’re here now.

Here’s a word from the boys; and if you listen long enough you can almost hear them say, “Thanks a million! Thanks a billion!”

(My most sincere apologies for not acknowledging your generous contributions of cookies brought to the Valley Sun. Please e-mail so I may.)