Monday, May 29, 2006

Memorial Day Prayer

I always get Memorial Day and Veterans Day a little cross-confused. Veteran's Day is to honor those that have served our country. Memorial Day is to honor those who have died in the service of our country. My grandfather fought under Patton in France and my father flew an F-4 in Vietnam. I am glad I honor them on Veteran's Day rather than Memorial Day. I am lucky that way.

I recently ran across a piece of Vonnegutia that I had never heard of before called "Tick Tock". It is a short CD where a musician named Simon Heselev has composed music that runs under Kurt Vonnegut reading a passage from Slaughterhouse Five. The passage is the part where Billy Pilgrim becomes unstuck in time and watches a World War II documentary in reverse and giant planes suck all the flame from burning buildings into small metal containers and the containers get sent back to the United States where all the fuel is taken out of them by hard working women so that the ingredients can be buried deep in the ground where they can do no harm.

I pray for the day when we can do this for real and nobody has to die in defense of their country. Until then we must remember that there are causes worth dying for and we must honor and remember those that do.

7 comments:

kontan said...

haven't been blog hopping in a while, nice new look!

Mooselet said...

Amen.

Brendan said...

The original name for the holiday was Decoration Day: some old country abd bluegrass songs refer to it that way, such as "When It's Decoration day Up In Heaven". The day was established after the Civil War.
Sad holiday.

Elizabeth said...

Yep, thought about my brother all day, pretty sad. Wonder when it gets easier?

2fs said...

And until then, sadly, we must also remember that many are dying for ill-defined causes utterly not worth dying for. They still deserve honor and remembrance, though.

Anonymous said...

Very nice Memorial Day tribute.

Anonymous said...

It's a wonderful article. Very touching I must say. It's a lovely tribute to the brave hearts who laid down their lives for the national.