November 9, 2009
This entry is meant to be a tribute and thanks for those men and women who have served and are serving in the US armed services. As Joan put it yesterday she is thankful that her father made it back from WWII for many reasons and if he wouldn't have she would have been an only child (she was the eldest and born before her father left to serve) and may not have ever had a sister and two brothers and the extended family as we know it today. Her father fought in Europe and came home with a Purple Heart. Fortunately the war was in the ending stages by the time he recovered and was deployed back to the States without having to go back to the front lines. We are very thankful that he was able to come back safe and sound.
So many have paid the ultimate price by giving up their lives or suffered serious physical or mental handicaps that they can never recover from. As the saying goes "Freedom is not Free" and so many have given so much so we here in the United States of America can enjoy the freedoms that we have. Unfortunately for every terrorist attack that occurs in some way we loose a little bit of that freedom and the cost goes higher. Will we ever live in a world where we don't have to worry about protecting our country from someone who wants to take our freedom away? Probably not. Will dedicated people continue to put their lives on the line to protect out country? Yes, and we need to thank those who do.
Coming back from Cave Creek we took a short detour through the National Cemetery of Arizona. It is a place of quiet, solemn, beauty quite different from say Arlington Cemetery with its green plush grass and white crosses. It is fitted to its desert environment with coarse granular sand that is maintained in pristine condition. The ground between markers is apparently maintained by equipment that rakes the ground smooth and I can only be curious as to how often this is done. When we were there we saw occasional cars entering and leaving and a number of people spending time looking at markers of loved ones or family members buried there. Every person walking there leaves their footprints in the sand as a record of their visit that eventually will be swept away by the wind or machine.
The cemetery consists of 225 acres and at the end of 2008 was the resting place for over 52,500 people. It was dedicated on 12/9/78 and the first burial took place on 3/19/79. Some statistician apparently calculated that the cemetery will last until 2030 meaning it will take that long to use up the space allocated. We can only hope and pray that it will not be necessary to make it larger or ever use all the space.
Below are a few pictures -
Wherever we have been in our travels both foreign and domestic and having the opportunity to talk with people we have found common desires. They want to be able to work for a living and safely raise and educate their children and have a safe and decent place to live. So in what ever way you can to help ourselves and others to do this please do. We tend to forget at times to be thankful for our country and the opportunities that we have. Don't criticize our system unless you do it to make it better.
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