Reflections on Vetrans Day Weekend

A friend of mine and I were speaking the other day about life.  On occasion it doesn't quite live up to expectations.  But, ultimately, there is one thing that is certain.

Death.  That thing we all know is coming, somehow, sometime, somewhere.  For some, death came too soon, too violently, too far from home.

Some, myself included, have avoided it on occasion.  But, it was a close thing.  The reason, through luck or divine intervention remains a mystery.  I can say this - without a lot of emotional attachment - it's not as mysterious as it once was to me.  I do however, have some lingering questions...the list keeps growing, but I can wait.  For awhile.

We started on this macabre subject quite by accident.  We were discussing the upcoming Veterans Day and the various people we have known over the years in uniform.  Just as importantly, we began talking about those friends of ours who have paid the ultimate sacrifice, and for who we pause, or should pause, on Veterans Day to remember.  In my mind, its far more important to remember the fallen than it is to remember the ones who have survived.

Thankfully my list of fallen friends is far shorter than some.  I take a moment, a bottle, and a quiet spot, pause to remember my brothers, and somehow they remain alive.  Young men, primarily in their early 20's, full of life, full of hope, full of the future.  They will remain young forever. 

I can't dwell on or separate those we lost and never found, those who died defending the bodies of brothers already fallen moments before, or those recovered who died in the arms of those that brought them out. In the end, the dead are simply gone.  The circumstance matter only in the details of their honorable service to our great nation.  But, we MUST remember them.

Among them were leaders who could have shaped the world, future Doctors, Lawyers, Politicians, or perhaps truck drivers, plumbers, or farmers.  Who knows?  Based on their backgrounds, they could have been whatever they chose to be. . . and they would have been successful too.

So, I ask you to join me on this upcoming Veterans Day to pause from your BBQ, your family gathering, or your well earned rest, and remember that there are names, faces, families, and lost futures behind this important moment that we all celebrate.