So Take A Letter, (to) Garcia
8:05 pm 02/02/06
REPOST: Curious: how many of you have heard of — or actually read — the “Message To Garcia” story? I never even heard of it until five years ago, when a senior co-worker asked me to find a copy of it online. Apparently, it was quite popular at one time…but except for that co-worker mentioning it to me that one time, I have never seen it referenced anywhere, in any context, at any time.
I heard of this letter to Garcia about 30 years ago when the dean of a college I was working for referenced it. He did so after he asked me to complete a task (forgotten what now) and I must have asked him how to get it done. I quickly learned my lesson. It’s a lesson worth knowing.
I disagree. I found the Letter to Garcia useless. We are not all soliders and we do not work in a factory. The truly smart people got there by asking questions. Even if I was in the Military look at what happened to Ollie Rice and the hapless folks at Abu Gru prision.
Maureen,
The message of the letter is about values and the use values as a foundation in our endeavors to do great things. This message goes beyond the nuts and bolts of “how to” and into things like work ethic, loyalty, etc… Don’t miss the bigger message because of the military premise of the article. It has applications well beyond that.
The entire purpose behind this message is to let the world know that it is becoming blinded by simple complacency and imbecility. Who among us in this world are actually preparred to take a message to Garcia, who is willing to die for what’s right, who is courageous to work tirelessly in the hopes of saving this world from the unfulfillness that awaits us at the end of a days work because we could not carry the message. forget the jumble of the words and look into what he is feeling. He cries out for the people that surround him who are waisting their life on substanceless purpose. He found the problem now he wants the world to know its there, I do. I am a schoolkid only and i can see his heart and i can feel his message because my king my GOD has given me eyes and passion now i will die for my king and for the truth that Christ died for all with the hope that people relise this and like Elbert i will see everyone find and resolve this problem of complacency, however before i die for this dream and GOD’s purpose i will live for it.
Hi Maureen, I was a soldier, those at Abu Graib who commited those crimes, they were taught not to do that in basic training, they broke their training and chose to do what they did. Simple as that.
An ex-10th Mountain Division Light Infantry soldier.