Tom Finneran: A Service to be Praised
Friday, July 03, 2015
Tom Finneran, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™
Happy Birthday America. It’s July 4th weekend.The party’s hosts this year are Hank and Ellen. They join a long line of Americans whose quiet service allow the rest of us to party on without pause. Thank you Hank. Thank you Ellen. Thank your children too.
He’s Hank Naughton, a State Representative from Central Massachusetts. She’s Ellen, the saintly, patient, supportive wife and mother. Hank and Ellen have a bunch of kids, four to be precise, and he’s just been actively deployed for the third time. He’ll be far far away for several months. He’s been on a previous training mission to Congo on our behalf, and now to Southwest Asia for the third time. That’s not much fun for Hank or the kids and it becomes a huge helping of exhaustion and anxiety for Ellen. Nonetheless, they step forward to serve. Where does America find such men and women? How blessed a nation.
A word about their four children---they range in age from roughly pre-teen to mid-teens, very active in school activities, sports, and blossoming friendships. Therefore you know that such lives require all hands on deck, not just Mom’s but Dad’s too. And yet Dad is now in Asia which means that Mom is the Lebron James, the Tom Brady, the Bobby Orr of the Naughton family. She’s the MVP of Massachusetts’ families, doing a huge and crucial job alone.
Once upon a time many American men shared the experience of military life, if only for a few short years. That experience became a common denominator for American families from different regions, races, and religions. Think North meets South, farm boy meets city kid, black meets white and brown, and Catholic meets Jew, with both meeting atheist and agnostic. The melting pot was an eye-opener for many young Americans. A brain-opener too, where they served side-by-side in the shared misery of kitchen or latrine duty or forced midnight marches in full gear. Stereotypes can fall quickly under those conditions and implausible friendships can bloom for a lifetime. Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard servicemen might have their lifelong arguments about the merits and histories of their particular branch but they all shared the experience of unit discipline and military orders.
Not so today. Our volunteer services rely on the Hank and Ellen Naughtons of the world, people who step forward into a life of uncertainty, disruption, and risk. That they do so in a society and culture that seems to worship “celebrity” and the Kardashians while simultaneously denigrating the military is a wonder of the mind. That their families bear the burden of their service, purchasing for the rest of us the freedoms we take for granted, is yet another wonder to behold. They are selfless in a selfish age and I hold them in high esteem. They are America’s best. Steady and strong, they are the heart and soul of America’s cities and towns and they are the last best hope of the world.
So when the fireworks wind down this weekend and the children are safely tucked in bed, say a prayer of thanks for Hank and Ellen. Actually, say two--a prayer of thanks and a prayer for his safe and speedy return home.
Major Naughton, once again, well done. Yours is a service to be praised.
Tom Finneran is the former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, served as the head the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, and was a longstanding radio voice in Boston radio.
