White Dog and The White Dog Army
Wonderful World Wednesday
White Dog believes that a million times every day the world is made a better place simply by a single person taking a positive action, choosing to show compassion, or doing what he or she knows is “the right thing to do.” More than any politician, or legislation or movement these actions provide hope and replenish the true spirit of humanity. Often known to no one or affecting only a few such nobleness deserves recognition and thanks when it is discovered.
The actions of Mark Dolfini didn’t change the course of the world but his act of commitment and compassion, The White Dog Army agrees, was heroic and honorable…and because he cared, a horrible tragedy was made less painful. Semper Fidelis.
12-year-old Cody Green always admired the strength and courage of the U.S. Marines. Last month, it was the Marines admiring the strength and courage of Cody. To honor his undaunted optimism and long-time struggle with leukemia, during which he beat the cancer into remission three times, the Indiana fifth-grader was made an honorary Marine.
But that wasn't enough for Sergeant Mark Dolfini who took it upon himself to drive over to Riley Hospital for Children where the boy was bed-ridden fighting a fungus which attacked his brain, a result of lowered resistence to disease caused by chemotherapy. He did not personally know the child.
Dolfini made the decision to stand guard in his dress uniform at Cody's hospital door all night long, for eight hours straight. It was the night before Cody passed.
Dolfini said one of the most difficult things he ever had to do happened during Cody's funeral when he locked eyes with the boy's mother, Tracy. "We looked straight into each other's eyes and I saluted her," he told WLFI-News. "for that moment in time that we were locked in each other's gaze, keeping your bearing at that point is a tough thing to do."