A Meditation This Memorial Day

Please remember why

So many giving their lives

Bird song on marble

As a young man, I was quite proud of my decision to join the Navy. No plans for great and noble sacrifice. My future was what mattered; potential, possibility. There were thoughts of glory, but not of sacrifice. 

I’m sobered as I remember my youth. The naivete. The impulsiveness. The reckless spirit. The commitment to my friends. A child in so many ways, carrying amazing responsibility. I held the keys to horror. Mistakes could mean anguish and death for my friends, my crew, those I loved, and for countless innocents. 

I’ve seen the face of parents who’ve lost their children. Of wives who lost their husbands. The promise of youth shattered to pieces. That leaves a horrible swath of destruction within hearts. 

I consider all of this as I look upon this day and it’s symbolism. There’s so much we have yet to learn. 

A meditation on loss 

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News received
Unpleasantly
Deeply tinged
With sadness

Into a mirror
Gazing, wondering,
Unshaven for this
Weekend
Grey dominates
My beard

Change comes,
Celebrated at times
Or with dread
But it comes
Inevitably

Flame flutters
Victim of the breeze
Candles flicker
Departing from
Pedestals
Into the
Stars