Out of Darkness: Reflections

On the 11th Day of the 11th Month at the 11th Hour the WWI Armistice was signed. Not too many people remember that. They are busy taking advantage of the sales and enjoying a day off from work and school. Nary a WWI veteran is around to recall the horrors of trench warfare and the use of chemical weapons.
Pretty soon we will be out of WWII veterans - our parents' generation - The Greatest Generation. Or the Korean War Veterans - the Forgotten War.

But, there are 58,195 names etched on a black granite wall in Washington, DC that reflect in a silence that screams volumes to remind us of the toll of war. The Vietnam War. Go to the wall and stare at the names - each one a son, brother, husband, father, sister, daughter, mother, wife - and see a reflection of your face in the granite.

We say "never again," but we still don't mean it. 58,195 names. A city larger than the one I live in. Some came back and make the pilgrimage to the wall to leave gifts to fallen comrades. And they are all kept in a vault by the National Park Service, carefully categorized. Each one a poignant statement...I remember!

Today, at the 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month of the 11th Year, pull yourself away from the sales and the madness and remember. Not only those soldiers that have given their lives, but the ones that are keeping the American Dream alive for us all.

© DD Corbitt