In first grade, we were given an assignment. The assignment was to write to a soldier as a pen-pal, but we weren’t guaranteed to get anything back. It was meant to be a nice note and care package to put the soldier in a happy mood. If they were nice, they would send you something back. So I wrote to that anonymous soldier. I don’t remember what I wrote. It was probably a generic way of saying, “thank you for serving our country” and, “hope you like my packaged.” Little did I know, it was the start of something I will never forget.

A month later, I got a letter in the mail. As a kid, I either got letters if it was my birthday or during the holidays. It definitely wasn’t my birthday, so I knew it was something special. I looked at the letter and didn’t recognize the name. Opening it, trying not to tear what was inside, I saw that it was a letter with a wallet sized picture. The first thing I remember seeing is, “Hello Charlie, I am Sargent Manny Matos.” It took me five seconds to realize a soldier actually wrote me back. The next day at school, I brought the letter in to read to the class. I was one of four kids in the class who actually was written back to.

Being young, I didn’t realize how awesome it was to be writing a person who is on the other side of the world. As time passed and years moved on, we wrote back and forth monthly or have these long letters being sent to each other. He sent pictures of his newborn children and Christmas pictures. Sent letters, candy, movies, shirts, key chains, and even a Brett Favre jersey.

As time went on we talked less and less. Instead of writing letters, it got to the point where email was an easier thing to do and less of a hassle. But, once we started to email, it seemed like we started to send even less emails than we did letters. The amounts of care packages we sent decreased, and it was less fun. It got to a point where I wouldn’t hear from him for almost up to a year. Then a year became two years, then three years… I still always kept him in the back of my mind though.

About two years ago, I logged into Facebook for the first time in a while, to a friend request. It said, “Manny-Julie Matos wants to be your friend”. Without even thinking, I knew that name sounded familiar. So I clicked on his profile picture— “Oh my god,” is all I could say. I accepted the friend request and the next day I received a message from him. The message said, “Hi Charlie hope things are going good for you, just wanted to tell you that today my unit received letters from some school kids and it reminded me of long ago when i first read your letter. I even got up in front of my unit, about 100 soldiers, and began to tell our story. I will tell you the truth. I got choked up and shed a tear. It’s been great getting to watch you grow and I told my soldiers that’s something to treasure. Give your family my best from Korea. Your friend - Manny.”

It wasn’t until that moment, I realized by sending that one letter in first grade would impact somebody else’s life in such a way. It made me feel that I made somebody else's life better without even knowing. It showed me even the littlest things can make the biggest differences in others lives. From there on, I have tried impacting others in the most positive way. I found out the only way I am happy, is if I make other people happy.