Remembering

It's amazing to think about how many memorials there are in this country. Most of them, I bet, a lot people haven't even heard of. There are some for events that everyone is aware of and others that are more localized for remembering specific people in the community. If you are trying to escape the sorrow of memorials, do not visit Washington D.C. It is covered in them. However, people should not try to avoid memorials or sorrow for that matter. These memorials serve a purpose: people should not forget about this and the people who suffered.

I've been to D.C. and have seen the various memorials; it is very sobering. Typically you know the event and what happened, but then you look at this memorial and all you see is a bunch of names. They are names of people who had to endure something terrible and you have no idea who they are. Then you begin to think about how they died, and you cannot fathom what actually happened. There are also the people whose names are not present on this memorial, and you begin to think of those people who are never found or identified; how those persons' family members were left merely wondering.

This article brought me back to all of that. It also reminded me of an article I read in Newsweek around the time of 9/11 that described how much controversy and bickering there was over the details of the memorial. I agreed with the article in how ridiculous it is that people should fight about a memorial. They need to admire the work that is done. Any memorial is beautiful.

The image is a painting of Arlington National Cemetery by John Quinlan entitled "I Have a Rendezvous With Death". The title is taken from a 1917 war poem, with the same title, by Alan Seeger.