Thursday, August 27, 2015

Gone to graveyards every one ....


I've been looking at images this morning of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial "Wall" in Washington, D.C., and recalling what an awe-inspiring --- emotional and healing --- experience it is to touch the names of those once known, alive and filled with promise, now gone to graveyards every one.

Thanks to Pete Seeger for that line, supplemented by additional lyrics from Joe Hickerson and forged into a folk classic.

And trying to relate the experience to that mess just up the road in Knoxville related to a piece of well-intentioned but kitschy plywood art --- soldier kneeling at a grave marked by a cross near a painted rock --- now the focal point of a lot of hollering --- online and otherwise. It's become "save the cross" and the rally, I'm told, is Sunday.

Somewhere along the line, the focus has shifted from memorial intent to collective outrage --- and everyone involved in the yelling bears a share of the blame, from fundamentalist atheist to fundamentalist Christian (a curse on both their houses) and quite a number in between.

The point has been obscured. It's not about you. It's about honoring in a peaceful and respectful way the memory of those who died. Calm down.

1 comment:

Brenda said...

Well said.