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FWIW - I didn’t post this article to debate the various merits of; the pros or cons or even the necessity of having school crossing guards in the first place, or whether crossing guards are necessary for HS or college students or whether kids who walk to school should be taught and learn how to safely cross intersections. Of course they should. Just as drivers driving through school zones should be aware and on the lookout for kids, especially the little kids, which as I’ve observed all far too often, they don’t.

Yea. I know that some of you evidently walked to school 20 miles back and forth to school, all uphill each way, in driving snow storms, during floods, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions and in the bitter cold while barefoot and wearing only a ratty sweater and carrying 10 pounds worth of books along a sack of coal in order to heat your one room school house and had to fight off grizzly bears and rattle snakes and or having to dodge the speeding horse drawn stage coaches along the way and lived to tell about it. Well good for you!

Oh, and I admitted that when I cut and pasted, I made an error in posting the title. And I noted that in post #3. So you can lay off the jokes as it has nothing to do with the substance of what I posted.

My point in posting this; a point that is evidently lost on many of you, is that this Marine Corps veteran and a find upstanding citizen, saw a need; a dangerous heavily trafficked intersection where drivers were not paying attention to kids crossing the street even when they were trying to cross with the traffic light, because the school district cut funding for crossing guards that used to be stationed at that intersection, but that he, rather than just whining and complaining about it or crying for more tax dollars to be spent or for more government intervention and without, I should mention, never once playing the “racism card”; simply took it upon himself to just do something about it and on his own time. And while also perhaps teaching those kids what it is to be a Marine.

And FWIW, it makes absolutely no wit of difference to me the color of Lewis Alston’s skin, his race as I would applaud him for his actions no matter the color of his skin, but I just thought that with all the things going on in places like Ferguson, the rioting and looting, the black thug¸ rap, knock out game culture, etc., it was just nice to see a fine upstanding citizen who just happened to be a Black man but also a religious man and a proud Marine Corps veteran who takes the time to be a Chaplain and someone who takes the time to be an honor guard for the funerals of his fellow Marine Corpsmen, a man proud to wear his Marine uniform who also takes the time to help out his community without asking for anything in return.

I would be happy and am happy to have Lewis Alston as my “neighbor”. We need more men like him no matter their race. YMMV and if you don’t see that, I feel sorry for you.

I'm with you: this former Marine did the right thing and he should be honored for it. Many of the responses to your post have been either poorly thought out or just outright nonsense.

The part they miss in this is that this retired Corporal is retired because he was badly wounded in combat in Vietnam and then medically retired on what little bit Corporal's pay gives you. He gave up part of his body and his life for all of us and now he's coming to the aid of his country again in this small but inspiring way.

Some of the responders have been mean-spirited and insulting (my reading comprehension level is just fine, miss marmelstein) and that is degrading to all of us on this forum. Once again, we have people who pay lip service to us veterans but if we in any way differ with their closely-held prejudices, it's back to insults very quickly.

I hope I get the pleasure of meeting this Marine in person and shake his hand.