by Gary Sinise with Marcus Brotherton, 2019
After reading this fantastic memoir, I wish Gary Sinise would run for president. I’d vote for him! What a beautiful American he is, and his book is a beautiful message for us all. He thanks God he was in the right place at the right time during high school when a drama teacher walking down the hall looked him in the eye and told him to audition for a play, West Side Story. He went from being a pot-smoking loser who could barely read and write to a phenomenally successful actor and a man with a heart for our veterans. He never wants them to feel unappreciated; it breaks his heart how we treated our Vietnam veterans. His life since 9/11/2001 has been one of service above and beyond the call to veterans, first-responders, and their families. This memoir details it all and is engrossing and uplifting. Thank you, God, for Gary Sinise and thank you, Gary, for writing this and for all you do and continue to do, and for your faith.
Here are some quotes from the book:
Grateful didn’t begin to describe how I felt. I was so much more than grateful. Already I’d made so many mistakes in my life and so many times I’d chosen the wrong path, yet somehow a mercy was still being shown to me. Why did I deserve all this goodness? I wasn’t a believer in Providence. I never really thought about God. Yet something beyond me was so clearly involved in my story. Something unseen was pulling me along, never giving up on me, helping me find and fulfill my purposes in life. If all this blessing was an act of Providence, then that was okay by me, even if I still had a long way to go toward understanding what I was only then beginning to glimpse.
from page 100, after the birth of his son, while driving home from the hospital listening to the soundtrack of Glory.
Life is full of ironies. If I had landed the roles in Little Buddha or Wyatt Earp–roles I desperately hoped for at the time–then I wouldn’t have been able to do Forrest Gump.
from page 119, describing how he ended up taking the role of Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump.
…in a small, quiet ceremony on Christmas Eve, surrounded by the family I love and cherish dearly, I was officially confirmed into the Catholic Church. It was a very special night in our lives. Moira was so touched. She had come a long way. Our family had come a long way, and I wanted to belong to the faith as Moira did. It meant so much to her, to me, to all of us.
In the years that followed, my faith grew, and I began to feel called by God to take greater action, compelled to use everything I’d been blessed with to serve in a more substantial way. I wanted to create something that could be there for the long haul and, over time, do good work for others. My journey of faith had basically started with Moira’s need and our dark time. In hindsight, I know that God used that difficult season to deepen and strengthen me to be a better husband and father and to bring us joyfully together to faith.
I say without reservation that my wife is my hero. She lost her father, brother, and mother, all at an early age. She’s had multiple surgeries on her spine, hips, and feet due to arthritis, and she’s continued to forge ahead in spite of all that. She struggled with alcoholism terribly, yet has stayed sober for twenty-plus years now and has remained loving and positive through it all. She is an inspiration. Yes, an earthquake hit our family, shook our foundation, and tested our strength. But the shaking we experienced helped us find a solid rock for our lives, one that will never crumble or fall.
from page 151 in the chapter entitled ‘Darkness and Light’ which describes wife, Moira’s, alcoholism and her journey to sobriety and finding God.
I often wonder about these things. God’s plan for us. Destiny. Or if life is a series of random accidents as one small seed is planted, and years from now the “history we don’t know” is changed.
I think about how a ragtag kid, struggling in school, happened to be standing in a high school hallway at the exact right moment the drama teacher came walking by, changing the course of his life, and how that would lead to his getting together with some buddies and starting Steppenwolf Theatre. Or how one supporting film role for that kid became such an important story for wounded veterans everywhere. Certain events in our lives, certain turns we happen to make, or not make (if I’d gone right instead of left, if I’d gotten out of bed a little later that day), can lead to larger and more purposeful things that we never imagined — things that can inspire and reach many people for good.
from page 184, chapter entitled ‘Honor. Gratitude. Rock and Roll.’
We were just Gary and his buddies, playing for the troops. That last phrase began to take a greater hold of my soul. Without knowing it, we joined what we loved doing with a new motivation–and when joy connects to mission, a life’s purpose begins to take shape.
from page 186 and 187
A healing power exists within service work. My heart had been broken after that terrible day of September 11, 2001. Fear had crept in as to what the future would hold for our country and for my family. I needed to do something to help assuage that fear, to help heal that broken heart, to stand behind our country with everything I had, and to honor those who had been lost by taking action to remember them.
…I have been motivated and inspired by so many who have devoted their lives to service and volunteerism, and I have tried to do a little more by taking action.
And I have found that the more I served, the more I knew that this calling was just, and true, and right and that this healing power was giving me new strength to continue to carry on…
from page 242, chapter entitled ‘Flurry of Action’
His Uncle Jack flew with the Eighth Air Force 379th Bomb Group out of Kimbolton, England, in WWII. He talked about how on many of their missions, “as far as he could see — in front of him, behind him, and to the side — were airplanes. Hundred of airplanes, sometimes more, all heading in the same direction. Many would not make it back.”
We’re getting great things done. But there’s lot more work to do, and we are always looking for more ways we can help our nation’s defenders. I like to spread this message, a motto we’ve come to live by at the foundation. That motto holds that while we can never do enough to show our gratitude to our nation’s defenders, veterans, first responders, and the families who serve alongside them, we can always do a little more.
from page 260 in the chapter entitled, ‘The Gary Sinise Foundation’
As I’ve gotten older, I have seen more clearly the fragility of life. How love and beauty and service and action and declining health and infirmity can all mix together. I’ve seen life’s brevity too, hearing how the clock constantly ticks. I find myself getting up earlier and earlier and staying up later as time goes on, fearing that I won’t be able to get in everything I’d like to do. And when you grasp how close we all are to the realities beyond the veil, you never want to waste another day.
from page 261 in the chapter entitled, ‘Why I’m Still on a Mission’
When I thought about that, I remembered something I have heard in church. We each have a purpose in life, and if we’re serving God, following him, living out God’s calling and purposes for our life, then we can have faith that God is leading us, and even difficult times can turn out all right. God can cause all things to work together for good.
from page 265 in the chapter entitled, ‘Why I’m Still on a Mission’
It’s a mission I want to invite all American people to join. In fact, I invite all people from all countries who live their lives in freedom. We must ensure the sacrifices of freedom’s defenders and their families are never forgotten. We must value freedom over tyranny, embrace the opportunities that freedom affords us, and support and remember those who provide it.
from page 270 in the chapter entitled, ‘Why I’m Still on a Mission’
For those who have sacrificed for me, for those who have inspired me, for those who have supported me in the many endeavors over the years that I’ve shared in these pages, and for those who have loved me and who I love, I hope to continue to make the most of that love, that support, that inspiration, and that sacrifice for as long as I live. I want to lead a good life, not just for myself, but also for my fellow man. A life of service, to try to make the world a better place. American has given me this opportunity, and for that, I will always be grateful.
the last paragraph of this very fine book by a very fine man
Thank you, Gary Sinise, for this inspiring, uplifting, beautiful memoir! May you live long and continue to do good for our world!