A Heartfelt thank you. To the 103 and growing wonderful people who took the time to leave a review on Amazon, your kind words for my book leave me overwhelmed. Because of your support, A Walk Among Heroes is continuing to gain momentum.

For a fourth of a nanosecond, the book reached the bestseller rank in the Category “Military Leader Biographies.” Believe it or not, this is a big deal. To the best of my knowledge, there are approximately 33 million paperbacks available on Amazon, so being ranked in the top 1000 of any genre is a testament to your continued support. Bless every one of you.

I continue to speak at veterans’ groups and community centers across Southern California. A highlight of these talks was the one I did to around eighty High School Students at Royal High School in Simi Valley. Their “Citizen-Scholar Institute” is a partnership with the Education Department of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

It was heartwarming to see so many engaged young people. The program’s teachers, John and Brian, expected me to challenge the students to consider this year’s theme of “Critical Hope.” This concept originates from Viktor Frankl’s book, “Man’s Search for Meaning.” In it, Frankl emphasized that individuals retain the capacity for meaning and purpose even in the face of extreme suffering. His experiences in Nazi concentration camps led him to believe that those who maintained a sense of purpose and reason to live were more likely to survive.

My challenge to the students was simple in concept but sometimes difficult in practice. My challenge stems from the subtitle of my book, “Searching for America’s Better Angels.” Most of you will be familiar with the history of this call for a better discourse. A few of you will even have the last paragraph of Abraham Lincoln’s 1st inaugural address committed to memory:

“I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

I encouraged the students to achieve their own greatness, whether it be wealth or fame, and to do so without looking back. I simply asked that, as they sought their fortune, they consider adding this simple phrase to their resume: ‘…and be a good citizen.’

Thank you again and again.