As part of our recognition of Memorial Day 2017 I thought I would share a brief video which actually delivers some good news for a change. It involves Andrew Lumish, who has come to be known as The Good Cemeterian. Andrew has been featured in the news before, including this report from CBS last fall. He’s taken it upon himself to locate the graves of American warriors who fell in battle which have fallen into disrepair due to neglect and restore them. It’s a time consuming and largely thankless task, but he’s kept at it until, at this point, hundreds of grave markers have been spruced up nicely.

Here’s a short video found on the channel of The Great Big Story, in which Andrew describes how he got into this effort, what motivates him and the sort of work which goes into a restoration.

When Andrew Lumish realized that the tombstones and historical monuments for those who had fought for the United States armed forces were falling into disrepair, he resolved to do something about it. A resident of Tampa, Florida, Lumish found that tombstones in his local cemetery were covered in mold and lichens, rendering them unreadable. So for the past four years, he has been restoring these stone monuments with little more than water, a toothbrush and some serious elbow grease.

You can learn more and keep up with the work of Mr. Lumish at his website, but on this special day of remembrance perhaps his story will prove to be an inspiration to others no matter where your area of interest lies. I know that for many of us there is no shortage of problems in the world where we’d like to pitch in and make a difference but the challenges seem insurmountable. Let’s say you are very concerned about the crisis of Alzheimer’s Disease which devastates the lives of so many people. Perhaps you’d like to get directly involved in solving that problem, doing more than making a monetary contribution or running in a benefit marathon. But unless you happen to be a doctor working at an advanced research laboratory with millions of dollars in funding, odds are that you aren’t going to be the guy or gal who comes up with a cure.

But Andrew Lumish saw a very real problem and figured out how to tackle it on his own, using little more than a bucket, a toothbrush, some cotton swabs and water. With a sufficient amount of time spent on his days off from work and a lot of elbow grease he went out there and made the world a better place. And he’s helping to honor those who gave all for our country. That’s a pretty good story and gives you something worthwhile to take away today, no?