stuff i think

Happy 4th of July

Once again, the 4th has snuck up on us. I promise you it was May 1st last week. Anyway, I find myself with friends here in Washington, DC, and knowing another group has gathered at the playa to make preparations and - if tradition has it's way - burn something colossal.

This afternoon, we took our boys to Arlington cemetery. First things first, there are probably better weekends to go to Arlington than the 4th of July weekend. It was crammed with people of all shapes, sizes and shades. From the looks of it, many of them had little or no awareness of the significance of the place. It is difficult for me to conceive that people would intentionally wear a tube top to a mausoleum. Never has a more Nascarian crowd gathered at such a solemn location. Nevertheless, they were all very well mannered, particularly when we saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

We were all struck by row after row of white tombestones....simple markers of complex events. Let us not forget the men and women who had given their very lives for an idea. And let's not be so simple as to think that these were the last who would pay the ultimate sacrifice for the same.