This morning, my Best Reader and my Perfect Non-Reader and I all went to our small-town Memorial Day observation. We cheered for our veterans as they marched (some of them marching very neatly, others staggering a bit with age, others riding comfortably in vintage automobiles), and also cheered for our local VFD and our scouts. As the last of the scouts came by, and I cheered for the Eagle-to-be who had played the Chevalier Danceny in the recent production of which you all have heard, I realized that for the first time since I was myself of the age of service, I knew people who might well be drafted, or might even join of their own volition. After all, he’s an Eagle scout, which shows a certain ... well, I don’t actually know, but once upon a time, the point of having boy Scouts was that they would grow up to be man Scouts, right? And it isn’t that much of a stretch to imagine this strapping young fellow in a year or two, scouting for his troop.\n
My reaction was grief, instant and strong. I know, it’s because it’s Memorial Day. We watched them lay the wreaths, and listened to them blow Taps, and if Your Humble Blogger didn’t actually weep, well, it was a near thing. Naturally, under the circs, I was focused on death and grieving. If this lad does join, and of course the odds are he won’t, or at least if he does, that he will join ROTC or go to an academy, which gives him a few more years before seeing combat, and surely we won’t still be fighting in the streets of Baghdad in 2010, yes? Oh, Lord.\n
As I was saying, even if this lad joins up right out of high school and goes for a soldier, the odds are that he will come home walking. Yes, it’s dangerous, and there are many who don’t, but it’s not a death sentence. Still. I saw him walk by in his dorky little Scout uni, and I just wanted to stand between him and the recruiter (who would be carrying a scythe, in this image).\n
And even aside from the bogus risk analysis, that’s a deeply wrong instinct. Well, no, it isn’t entirely, as I would like to maintain an instinct that says that nobody should go fight, but in the world as it is, we have a military, and boys (and girls) will go fight, and it’s deeply wrong of me to want to insulate myself and everyone I know from that. If this guy and his classmates want to join up, well, honestly, that’s something I should honor and admire, as I honor and admire the old men and the women who made that choice, and who were marching today, and those at whose graves the wreaths were laid as well. And I do. And I shouldn’t stand between those boys and their recruiter.\n
And yet, here it is: I hope somebody does. I hope for every one of those graves, and for every one of those veterans, there was somebody who wanted to stand between them and the recruiter, somebody who had to overcome that protectiveness. Somebody who had to force himself to remember to honor and admire the choice, and to respect it. And this Memorial Day, I’ll remember those mothers and fathers and uncles and acquaintances as well.\n
chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek<\/I>,
-Vardibidian.\n<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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