8 Comments on “Heading Out”

1. This is always a special day for me. I have family that was in the Korean war and friends that were in Vietnam and the first Gulf War. Though I don’t much approve of Bush Iraq war, I’m grateful that casualties have slipped. We should never have gone there and the thousands that have died, the even more thousands wounded and maimed, are a shame that Bush will have to live with. Despite what he says, I doubt that he gives all that tragedy much thought.

2. I learned this week that a new friend has been notified that he may be recalled by the Marines in six months to serve again in Iraq. *sigh*

   I’m working today. In fact, I’ve been sort of working all weekend. This is the life of a sysadmin. I get the server maintenance done when no one else is working.

3. …and remember those whose lives Memorial Day commemorates.

   I certainly will, as GWB seems determined to fill cemeteries with as many of them as possible.

   4082 unnecessarily dead US soldiers, and for what? $5 gas?

4. And for just a moment, but a weekend, Ohio was without a SF Writer. And all was right in the universe.

5. I probably think about what veterans gave us, more than quite a few. My brother’s an officer, my father was a sergeant by the time he left, my grandfather was a Hurricane pilot… I’m well aware that the sacrifices of men like that let me bugger about making computer graphics for a living.

   Today, I’ll just remember a little bit more than usual, and thank ’em a little more than usual.

6. Chatting after a service at Ft. Snelling with some very young looking Marines, some of whom had just volunteered for a third tour in Iraq, I mused that I wished that I could go in their place, as did others. “You served in your time, when it was your turn,” one of them replied, “and now, in this time, it’s our turn, and we thank you for giving it to us.” So it is. My family has a long tradition of military service, and many graves to decorate today. We few, we happy band ….

   Four thousand and eighty two souls, joining millions of others, to give you a world of choices; what you choose says nothing about them, and everything about you.

7. Every day, but especially today.

8. I took that moment to think about your Memorial Day.

   Would you mind returning the favour and take a moment to think about our Sorry Day? We don’t get a long weekend for it, but we do get to dwell on past wrongs and sufferings. This year is one of those watershed years, too, one that suggests that maybe the world will improve for Australia’s indigenous people.