HAPPINESS IS A MATTER OF TIME & PERSPECTIVE

Dear Friends,

Now, I want you to do something for me...I want you to be completely honest with me. I know what you are thinking, “Oh, my gosh, what in the world is Bob going to ask?” “Is he going to ask, ‘Really, what was that Swedish tourist girl like forty years ago?’” No! It isn’t anything as drastic as that...but, it is no less important! Do you remember when we were all stationed there at Iraklion Air Station forty years ago...thirty-seven years ago...thirty-five years ago...and we used to complain about Iraklion Air Station and Crete? Tell me if I am mistaken, but didn’t we used to say things like, “I’ll be glad to leave the ‘Rock’(Crete) and go back to the ‘World’ (USA)?” Or, perhaps, it was something like, “I can’t wait to get off of this God-forsaken island and go back to the land of fast food and even faster women."

Now, I am not being critical...I used to say the EXACT same things, or perhaps even worse. After all, I was there for a total of two years, eight months! But, have you noticed how our perspective has changed over the years since we have been gone from Crete? Sometimes I think that we used to say the things that we did about I.A.S. and Crete, because it was in vogue. We wanted to be like our friends and say the things they said, so that we would be considered, “cool”. But, in the years that I have been gone, my attitude has changed, and I think that your attitude has probably changed as well. So, how do we reconcile the differences...the way that we felt when we were stationed on Crete, and the way that we feel now? I think that Nikos Kazantzakis, in his novel, ZORBA THE GREEK, summed it up very well, when he said, “While experiencing happiness, we have difficulty in being conscious of it. Only when the happiness is past and we look back on it do we suddenly realize - sometimes with astonishment - how happy we had been.”

Ha. Ha. I have to smile and laugh! Does that not sound like us today? When we were on stationed on Crete, we were truly not aware of just how happy we really had been, that is, until we had left Crete! And, now, when we look back on those wonderful days spent on Crete, we now realize, that for many of us, those were some of the happiest days of our existence!!!

Take care, stay well, and let me hear from you.

Your Friend and Fellow “Silent Warrior”,

Bob Armistead

ADDENDUM: Dear Friends, I think that perhaps I need to add a little clarification to the above post. I was not intending to imply that we were unhappy while we were on Crete, but I was implying that many of us failed to recognize how happy we had been while we were on Crete and perhaps did not realize the full positive impact that Crete had on our lives until after we had left. If I had been unhappy while I was on Crete, I certainly would not have extended for another year at the end of my initial 18 month tour, and, I would not have extended for an additional two months at the conclusion of that one year extension. AND...if I had been unhappy on Crete after my arrival 40 years ago, I would never have returned last year for a three month vacation, nor would I have returned again this year for another three month vacation. I still maintain my original conviction that we ofttimes complained, not because it represented our true feelings, but because we heard others complain, and not wanting to appear different, we echoed their complaints. I hope this will help to clarify my position.

Bob (the not-so-Silent Warrior)