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Notes from Alex

How Do You Honor Those Who Served?

I found myself sitting quietly the other day, asking a simple question that doesn’t really have a simple answer:

How do you truly honor those who served in the armed forces?

It’s easy to say the words.
It’s easy to post a message, to shake a hand, to say “thank you for your service.”

But is that enough?

As I sat with that thought, my mind didn’t go to a crowd…
It went to one man.

My Uncle Sol.

Sol Atkinson.

I’ve always looked up to him. Not just because he served in the Navy—but because of how he carried that service throughout his life. There’s a difference. Some people serve, and others become something deeper through it.

Uncle Sol became a man of honor.

And that honor didn’t stay in uniform. It followed him home. It showed up in how he treated people, how he led, how he stood for something greater than himself. His life has been an example—not just to me, but to so many across Alaska and beyond.

His impact didn’t stop with his time in the Navy.
It carried into the lives of those who followed him.
Into the people he mentored.
Into the legacy he built quietly, without needing recognition.

That’s the kind of service you don’t always see—but you feel.

And I think about how his influence reached not only across this country, but into the First Nations communities as well. There’s something powerful about that—when a life bridges cultures, generations, and stories.

So I ask myself again…

How do you honor someone like that?

I don’t think it’s just about remembering.
I think it’s about living differently because of them.

It’s about carrying forward the values they stood for:

Integrity
Strength
Humility
Service to others

It’s about choosing to live with purpose.
To stand a little taller.
To do the right thing—even when no one is watching.

Maybe honoring them isn’t something we do once a year.
Maybe it’s something we do every day—in the way we live our lives.

For me, honoring my Uncle Sol means this:

It means I pay attention to how I show up in this world.
It means I don’t take freedom lightly.
It means I try, in my own way, to live a life that reflects the kind of man he is.

Because the truth is…

The greatest way to honor those who served
is to make sure their sacrifice continues to mean something.

And maybe that starts right here—
with a question worth asking, and a life worth living.

— Alex