So around mid-June I was at Baltimore Airport waiting working my way through the throng of people trying to find a seat.  As I settled in I, like those around me, was busy with the normal time killers of checking email, making phone calls, eating, etc. while waiting for our plane to arrive.  As I had  finally settled into my rhythm I hear someone shouting “Excuse me I need everyone’s attention” over the microphone at the gate next to me.  Slowly the din subsided and he makes an surprising announcement.

On the flight about to land from Ohio there were about 20 WW2 Veterans who were part of a Tour of Honor sponsored by the Honor Flight network.  He went on to explain that the Honor Flight provides to WW2 Veterans a cost free trip to Washington DC to see the World War 2 Memorial.  He asked that as they exited the airplane that we show them the honor they deserve by giving them a round of applause.  Then slowly they came out one by one and I was pleased to see that as far as I could see people had stopped what they were doing and were applauding.  Some walked out on their own, others with help, and some in wheel chairs.  The veterans showed their appreciation of the greeting with warm smiles, waves, and a general sense of pride that beamed clearly on their faces.  The crowd, in turn, never stopped applauding and in fact grew even stronger towards the end.

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What if I told you there was a town that caught fire in 1962 and has been burning ever since. The town of Centralia, Pennsylvania in 1962 was a small but growing coal mining town. At its height it had over 2500 people in the town and surrounding area. In 1962 the town was burning its landfill to reduce the volume and in doing so an exposed vein of coal caught fire.

The fire spread underground and continued to burn for 2 decades before the full scale of the problem was understood. In 1981 a 12 year old boy was outside when a sink hole opened up underneath him. If it weren’t for his cousin’s help he would have fallen 150′ to an underground inferno. By this time the fire had spread to affect 200 acres of land recent studies show that it could burn as long as 250 years.
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Ever wonder what one has do to be called great? Consider Alexander the Great. There have been several people that have ruled great portions of land through out history. What is it he did that causes us to identify him by this one key characteristic?

Here is a list of 10 reasons why we call him great.

I noticed that the siege of Tyre wasn’t included on the list and shows both his determination and creativity but if they included everything it would be a lot longer than 10.