For Veterans’/Remembrance Day
Kasia November 11th, 2008
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.— Lt.-Col. John McCrae
Thank you for your service and your sacrifices.
They gave their all that we might have a day off (and also savings savings savings! at your local Chevy dealer!)
Pfft. I don’t have a day off…only ever did when I worked at the bank.
But yeah. There is that commercialized bad-taste-in-your-mouth element…
I wasn’t being entirely facetious there. It’s all well and good to be somber and serious on a holiday like this, and I’m not knocking you or anyone else for it, but you have to remember that America also has the weirdness factor. This entails the extremes of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”, of which uber-commercialization (viz., having the Statue of Liberty shill for tacos or whatever) is a big part. Let’s be honest, not all vets are old guys standing there in their old uniforms saluting the flag with a tear in their eye as the music plays. A lot of ‘em want to live up their golden years on the road in their RVs or whatever — spend their days off doing a backyard barbecue, etc. And then you have this new generation of vets that’re coming up. They aren’t the Glenn Miller type at all.
It’s more complicated than just sentimentalism is what I’m saying.
I wouldn’t argue with any of what you’re saying, except perhaps to debate the merits of having the Statue of Liberty shill for tacos. :-p
Quite frankly, even the vets who ARE “old guys standing there in their old uniforms saluting the flag with a tear in their eye…” are more complicated than that. I can’t think of a person or a group that isn’t. Sort of like how even little old Catholic ladies who wear a chapel veil and pray the Rosary at the back of Mass also are daughters, sisters, aunts, mothers, grandmothers, etc., and even if they go to Mass every day they still do other things. No one’s just the sum of their stereotypes.
But I think there are a few days a year where we could tone down the Lady Liberty taco vending and simply take a few moments - or even the day, heck - and think about how other people sacrificed so that we could have our comfortable other 362 days a year. It gives perspective; and it’s unlikely to materially diminish the Chevy sales or the taco vending.
And with that, it’s just about 11:00, so I’m going to take a moment to reflect. Cheers.
Perfect!
True, not all vets were wounded in war or died for our country. But all when they signed up, had that possibility which they accepted. Service one day could mean going out on the front lines at the direction of our chain of command, and tomorrow it could mean standing guard duty, answering phones, operating machinery, fixing electronics, taking pictures, or any myriad of activities that is part and parcel of military life. Underneath the mundane day-to-day and the extraordinary day-to-day is a sense of camraderie, fraternity and community. We are a different creation than those who can be called “civilian” and we know that even though we may occasionally have issues with our brothers in service, and although rivalries exist, when the chips are down, we have your back. So, while not all are called to make the ultimate sacrifice, all answered “Yes,” and were willing to do so.
In fond memory of my shipmate, Rene LaMorte, USN — called home to God at the end of a 6 month deployment, while performing an act of kindness for a friend.
I know many people who are working today and got yesterday off instead to make it a long weekend.
Ugh.
As the mother of a soldier that does NOT sit right with me.
Katie, what I’m saying is that it’s all of a piece.
You must remember that these guys, when they went into battle, were not the old farts as we see ‘em now. They were young, hot-blooded, teeming with testosterone. True pure-blooded American punks at their finest. This is an essential facet (fact?) (both) that I really think most people try to ignore. America was founded on kicking ass, and kicking it all over the world.
You’ve probably seen it in my sigfile about a million times, but I keep coming back to it because it’s the truth:
“The whole point of American culture is to pick up any old piece of trash and make it shine with more facets than the Hope Diamond.” - Lester Bangs, April 1980
There is more wisdom in those words than I think either you or I could ever even begin to come to realize.
You must remember that these guys, when they went into battle, were not the old farts as we see ‘em now.
No argument. But “punks”? Depends on the guy. Some probably were. Some were probably trying to be heroes. Still others were probably responding to the call of duty. And so on. It would vary too widely to try to characterize.
With that said, every person I’ve known who has been in the military for at least one tour, particularly those who have seen combat, has had a…I can’t quite find a word for it, so let’s call it a je ne sais quoi (sorry, I know you dislike the French) - a depth of some particular aspect of their character - that few others of their age have. Yes, they may still be full of p*** and vinegar 9/10 of the time, but when the rubber meets the road they are more of an adult than many people 20 years their senior.
And of all the people I’ve known who have served, not one of them has cited our sacred right to have Lady Liberty shill tacos as what they were fighting for. I’m just sayin’. :-p
(Well, not yet anyway. Any of my military and former military readers want to stand up for taco shilling? :-p)
And here I thought you liked that Lester Bangs quote because it’s the same age as you…
Ah, okay. I think I see our divergence of viewpoint here. It’s just a male versus female thing. Guys want to kick ass and make things go boom and rat-a-tat-a-tat and yaaaaaaaaaargh!!!! Whereas gals will always put little mister kitty in a babybuggy. (Again, am not being entirely facetious. Put two toddlers, one male and one female, in a hypothetical human aquarium-type situation [hamster box, whatever], give ‘em some basic tools for life, and the XYs will inevitably make guns out of ‘em, and the XX dolls ditto.)
That is actually part of the reason I like the quote, but there’s more to it than that . . . there’s another quote I like even more, and has really haunted me ever since I first read it when I was about thirteen or so.
This son of a Vietnam Vet thanks you for your kind and thoughtful words. Dad still doesn’t have words to describe what he saw over there, and I don’t have the heart to ask him any more questions. But I know that we’re both proud of his willingness to put himself in danger to fulfill his duty to this country.
One of our friends is married to an Army helicopter pilot. He’s a young dad with three young children, and is eagerly awaiting his discharge in just a few short weeks. He’s served two tours in Iraq and two others in Korea (and maybe more, but my memory fails me). He’s a good guy, loving husband, and concerned father - in short, a guy who makes me proud to be American.
This has nothing to do with sentimentalism. I know these guys, and they’re about as good as it gets. Imperfect, yes. But undeniably good.
Whereas gals will always put little mister kitty in a babybuggy.
ROFL. I didn’t do that exactly, but I get your drift. (And poor Charlie-the-cat still put up with quite a lot from me.)
What you’re driving at, actually, with the male/female thing, was expounded on pretty substantially by Pope John Paul II in Mulieris Dignitatem and elsewhere. Gender complementarity. Very interesting stuff.
And DJ, it is my honor and privilege to thank them.
I have known a few Vietnam vets. More even than most vets I know, the ones I have known have seemed loathe to discuss their experiences; and like you, I don’t have the heart to pursue it.
And you about nailed it with your last paragraph, much as Jaibee did in her description of the fraternity in the armed forces. Are there bad eggs in any group? Sure. But by and large, “imperfect but undeniably good” sounds about right to me.
PS. Fr. JJ read that exact poem during his homily at the Veteran’s Day Mass last night.
Great minds think alike and all that.
Heehee, gender differences. It was always funny to see me with an M-16 on semi-automatic….
LOL - Jaibee, I can just picture you with an M-16…please forgive me for agreeing that it’s a slightly funny image (in the sense that it seems incongruous).
I’ve loved that poem ever since I read it on a trip to the WWI battlefields in Flanders when I was studying abroad. It really struck a chord that has never stopped resonating. I choke up every time I read or hear it. I guess it brings back mental images of the cemeteries, of the memorials to the men whose bodies were never recovered or identified, of the little concrete pillbox I crawled into and tried to imagine spending 8 hours in with a machine gun, and even of the one lone German grave set apart from the Allied graves in one cemetery. That was a lonely image. And the German cemetery, which was so tree-filled that the temperature dropped about five degrees when you stepped inside the walls, with the general memorial stone that read (in German, of course) “I have called you by name; you are mine.”
And more. Such poignant memories. I remember stepping out of the car in Ieper and thinking that the sense of history in the air was palpable…
It would be funnier, if I weren’t actually competent….
Thanks, Dad! Also funny was watching this little 5′3″ little girl getting these big, bad (or so they thought) men to do what she wanted them to do…. 
I would be remiss in my Canuck-ish duties if I failed to point out that Lt.-Col. McCrae was a Canadian physician who wrote the poem the day after witnessing the death of one of his friends, Lt. Alexis Helmer.
And also “The Sun Sessions” and Led Zeppelin’s ZoSo, inre: the JPII thang . . .
It would be funnier, if I weren’t actually competent….
I had no doubt you were competent. Actually, that point was instrumental to the image being so endearing (albeit still incongruous, because you’re such a cute little teddy bear in most contexts).