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(An honorable Marine Veteran raising flag)
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Tribute To Veterans
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again.
Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause. Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.
So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
— Theodore Roosevelt, The Man in the Arena
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Some people live an entire lifetime and wonder if they have
ever made a difference in the world, but the Marines don't
have that problem.
— Ronald Reagan
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The Big Black Granite_____
(REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (UNITED STATES)
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The Vietnam Memorial is like a roll call of names. The polish granite is designed for people to literally see themselves reflected in the names on the wall-a mirror of whatever it means to the individual.
There is something about standing before that Wall that transfixes you with a realization that the names on the Wall and the one who stands before it are inevitably linked. It is mesmerizing. Names seem neutral, regardless of how one feel about the war.
The ethnic names on the Memorial summons up an image of a diverse population, a democracy. A collective name belonging to one family.
The literal number of names indicate the length of the conflict--seemingly the names and Memorial go on forever. Picture the WALL without the names: a plain black tombstone, an open wound on the Washington Mall.
The Vietnam Memorial, which in a sense, had to have an architect genius (or a Higher Power) to envision more than just a Memorial.
I was one of thousands that attended the dedication in 1982. Only after I accepted its symbolism did the meaning become clear.
Maya Lin’s(designer) Vietnam Memorial has a somberness about it that is shared by every Vietnam vet that stands before it. The names are not listed alphabetically but chronologically according to when the soldier died or went missing. The Vietnam vet has certain dates seared into his brain and merely calls those up: the battle fought, comrades dying, and lives changing. This is the pathos of this Memorial.
by Phil Woodall, Poet/Warrior and author of Rhymer In The Sunset , penned this mini essay, which was one of his last. Phil died January 8, 2007(a eulogy).
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Diplomats are just as essential in starting a war as soldiers are in finishing it.
— Will Rogers
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A war put off is not a war avoided.
— Charlton Heston
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WHY WE LOVE SOLDIERS
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(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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When I was in Lemmon, South Dakota on a hunting trip recently, I went to a Presbyterian Church.
A young National Guardsman was leaving for Iraq and the pastor asked him if he wanted to say anything after a big introduction and gift. He says, "I just want to say, I believe God knows what he's doing. I'm not worried."
Last week a reporter sticks a microphone in a soldiers face going home for R and R in a helicopter along with several soldiers, some deceased and some wounded. He simply said,"I just want to go back to my battery."
Another NPR reporter interviewed this young Air Force Sergeant in Iraq. She said something like, "Sometimes I'm scared and I miss my children but we're doing the best we can and we know the American people support us. I can't imagine what it must have been like for Vietnam veterans to come home and not be supported."
Vietnam vets can take a measure of pride in paying an unusual price that the military is now being honored for their sacrifices.
jhl
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When I was in Lemmon, South Dakota, I was out running one night in 16 degree weather. Yes, I am crazy.
A person from the town greeted me by saying "God bless America." I was very moved. Obviously, in a town of nineteen hundred, everyone knows everyone else and so he knew I was one of the hunters as several groups were in town.
But, I discovered “God bless America” was their greeting. Instead of saying hello, etc., they say, God bless America. Pretty neat. jhl
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In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot. ~Mark Twain, Notebook, 1935
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