Veteran's Day
This Veteran's Day, my Beloved and I went to Dry Prong, LA, in order to visit her grandmother, quite possibly for the last time. We returned late yesterday, and I did not get a chance to put up more than a brief post, linking to my post of not-quite-a-year-ago, about three friends of mine, killed in action on the 11th of November 2006.
It is unsurprising given my blogroll that I have a lot of Veteran's Day posts which vary from the prosaic to the poetic. You can scroll through the links, and I encourage everyone to do so. After all, yesterday should have been the tributes, today is just a bone the Federal Government is throwing to the retail market.
Memorial Day is a day for the dead. Veteran's Day is for the living. To our Canadian and British brethren, it is "Remembrance Day", which is more like our Memorial Day.
Of course, a tribute to veterans means more (or it should) during an ongoing war. After all, there are new veterans being created daily, as young Soldiers are heading off to Iraq on a constant basis, and the veterans return to the US. It is one thing to recognize their sacrifices, and that is good. It might also be a good idea to recognize their successes, and to be honest about their results. Some folks can't stomach that idea, or even the idea of a Veteran's Day at all. I look at Iraq, and I don't recognize it much even from a year ago.
Of course, if you ask Hollywood, it just doesn't work that way, which is why they can't sell movies about Iraq worth a damn...
Pardon me, I'm cranky.
It is unsurprising given my blogroll that I have a lot of Veteran's Day posts which vary from the prosaic to the poetic. You can scroll through the links, and I encourage everyone to do so. After all, yesterday should have been the tributes, today is just a bone the Federal Government is throwing to the retail market.
Memorial Day is a day for the dead. Veteran's Day is for the living. To our Canadian and British brethren, it is "Remembrance Day", which is more like our Memorial Day.
Of course, a tribute to veterans means more (or it should) during an ongoing war. After all, there are new veterans being created daily, as young Soldiers are heading off to Iraq on a constant basis, and the veterans return to the US. It is one thing to recognize their sacrifices, and that is good. It might also be a good idea to recognize their successes, and to be honest about their results. Some folks can't stomach that idea, or even the idea of a Veteran's Day at all. I look at Iraq, and I don't recognize it much even from a year ago.
Of course, if you ask Hollywood, it just doesn't work that way, which is why they can't sell movies about Iraq worth a damn...
Pardon me, I'm cranky.
posted by Just A Decurion at 11/12/2007 04:12:00 PM
2 Comments:
If this turns out not to be your last trip to Dry Prong, drop me an e-mail. Y'all were less than 90 minutes away.
That's plenty close enough for me to buy you a beer and say thank you.
AGH! I told John I should have dropped you a line! Drat it all.
We'll let you know next time!
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