The title line for my blog posting today was taken from President Kennedy's inaugural address in 1961. If you have never read it, it is beautiful. (http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres56.html)
Today was a day of reverence for myself. I awoke to a dreary day with clouds and drizzle. There were no birds chirping or squirrels playing outside. I thought to myself, this is the perfect day to go visit the National Cemetery. It is hard to go to a place as reverent and beautiful as Arlington when the sun is shining brightly and the birds are singing. You want to go on a day when you feel as though you could cry anyway, so why not make it a cry for a good reason. I went to cry and remember those who have died for my freedoms.
When I arrived however, I was quite shocked to hear all of the people around me yelling and talking and laughing as if they were in an amusement park. The sight is so magnificent and devout, I could never bring myself to go there with another person, because I feel that remembering those whose lives were given for our freedom is something we should do in solitude. I was disgusted to hear how many people acted as though these soldiers lives were nothing to be thankful for. Then again, I am the kind of person that always has, and always will think that it is better to err on the side of respect (I even found myself shooshing people at President Kennedy's tomb).
It may be out of turn for me to say it, but are these the people who might have been the "human shields" months ago at the beginning of the Iraqi war? The people who did not have respect for the lives of the Iraqi's and thought nothing of our soldiers? If you cannot respect a fallen life, why would you enter the grounds in the first place?
It is painful for me to think that the memory of those that were so brave, and so unfortunate is trodden on daily by those that go to ANC, just for the sake of going, not because they want to thank the soldiers or remember that our Freedoms are precious. To some people Arlington will never be more than a tourist site.
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org/
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Sometimes my only hope is that the kids of this current generation will get disgusted with the way their parents raised them, and put a little respect back into their own children. It's sad though .. that there is so little respect of much of anything. We give our children anything they want - but so little of what they need.
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