Memorial Day

 

We had a wonderful weekend full of bike riding, slip-n-sliding, watermelon-eating, playground-playing and movie-going. It was warm, but  not too warm - a really perfect, family weekend.  I felt flooded with gratitude for my family and for our commmunity at large. 

One of our bike rides took us down 8th Avenue which runs between our neighborhood park and Loblolly Woods. For the last couple years, our local branch of Veterans for Peace has placed grave-markers along a mile-long stretch of it. Each is marked with the name, age, and hometown of a soldier who has died in combat in the "War on Terror."  The growing length of the display is a stark reminder of how many we have lost.

On the opposite side of the road, tied to the playground fence at the park, are banners made by family and friends of these men and women.  Some have epitaphs embroidered or painted on: "He loved his family,"  "She had three daughters," "He was so proud to be a Marine."  One of those young men played Capture the Flag on summer evenings with my boys.

 

It would feel so good to believe - especially on Memorial Day - what I was once taught: That I have this happy life with my family in this community due to the sacrifices of these young men and women.  But the only connection I can make is that they were playing on slip-n-slides and riding their bikes through the woods and eating watermelon with their friends such a short time ago.  That they are the age of my older children, and I remember them. And that they are gone.      

As a responsible adult in this world, I want to tell them that I am so sorry.  I am sorry we didn't do a better job of making this world a place where they could live and thrive.  I am sorry for the lies of our elected officials and for our gullibility in the face of them... For our need for revenge after September 11, for our reckless use of resources that lead us to invade other lands rich in oil, for the stories we tell that sound good, but aren't true, I am so sorry.  Forgive us.  We won't forget you.

Comments

[Waste Wear Daily]

Nicely written and I feel the same way. Last year I helped take down the gravestones from 2005. I wanted to make a point to read each name as I picked them up. Even with someone helping me, it became too much. There were too many to pick up to be able to read them all. So I glanced at the state and if it was Florida I read the name. Too many have died for too few reasons.
Cindy in FL
PS If you need a break, call and come visit.