Vietnam vet in Matlacha shares how 5 words brought him to tears

MATLACHA, Fla. (WINK) — A Vietnam veteran is reminding everyone that a smile, a simple hello or a friendly hug can have the power to change someone's day.

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James McDonald sat down with WINK News anchor Corey Lazar at WINK Listens on Matlacha. When McDonald listed three things he wanted to talk about, it was the last topic that really caught Lazar's attention.

"When I was about nine or 10 years old, I heard a song that changed my life, and the saying, if you want to change your life, change your mind," McDonald said. "That song changed my life."

The song is called "The Old Lamp Lighter" by The Browns in 1960. McDonald said one sentence in that song stunned him.

"He made the world a little brighter wherever he would go," McDonald said. "I took it figuratively, and I made it a point every day, although sometimes yes, sometimes a number, sometimes just a few, to try to make every encounter that I could a little brighter for somebody, if you can get them to smile, that's a lamplighter's job. If you can get them to laugh, that's even better."

McDonald deeply knows how other people can affect your being. He served our country from 1966 to 1969, fighting in the Vietnam War in the Navy.

But with so much division in the country, coming home was anything but welcoming. McDonald said when he got out of the service, there were no bands, no confetti and nothing except being kicked to the curb.

"Worse than that at our institutes of higher learning, if you were in the service, you were treated like a fellow," McDonald said. "You were a baby killer, you were a mercenary."

For 40 years, McDonald buried it all. He didn't talk about his service to anyone, not even his children.

Until one day at a dental office filling out paperwork, the receptionist asked him if he was a veteran. McDonald braced himself for a sneer.

"And she looked up at me and she said, Thank you for your service," McDonald said. "Nobody had thanked me in 40 years, including our government. I said, thank you. And as I went to sit down, I had tears coming down my cheeks. That's the importance of making the world a little brighter. Five words, thank you for your service. I had no idea I needed to hear that."

Lazar asked McDonald what we can do as human beings to make someone else's day a little bit brighter, and beyond that, care to make someone's day a little bit brighter. McDonald said all you have to do is make the effort.

"I'm looking for opportunities to get them to smile, just to take the tension and the distress out of people's life, if you only do it for 30 seconds, some cases, as in mine, it has a lasting impact in how you behave," McDonald said.

Lazar told McDonald he made her day and thanked him for his service. McDonald thanked Lazar for lightening his day.