Letter to the Editor
A fallen flag on I95 leads to a question: "are you living in a way that makes sense of fallen soldiers' absence?"
Would the Commuter Who Dropped Their American Flag on I-95 Please Pick It Up?
The northbound I-95 traffic wasn’t bad last Friday. Unlike the southbound Memorial Weekend traffic, we maintained a brisk pace. The driver in front of me swerved to avoid something in the road. As I too swerved, I caught sight of an American flag on a very short black tube. It had probably fallen from a car to which it had been attached without its driver noticing. In my mirror I saw the driver behind me swerve.
The image resonated – the flag laying in disregard, an irreverent end to a prideful, facile use. It aligned with the growing sense of futility I feel when I make my annual tally of the fallen and measure their worth against the state of the society they died defending.
I could recite a long list of the fallen I knew, but doing so would be a selfish use of their memories. In my mind, they march past a reviewing stand in silence, heads turned towards me, eyes unblinking. Behind them lay crumpled aircraft, charred vehicles, the smell of burning fuel and rising plumes of black smoke.
We are alive today whether we deserve it or not; they did not deserve to die. Their families bear forever scars from a knock on the door and anguished wails as Blue Star Mothers became Gold Star Mothers – a distinction they dreaded. I am old enough to feel no shame in telling you I loved my friends, probably less than their families, but enough to feel they deserve to be here today more than I.
This leads me to ask you: are you living in a way that makes sense of their absence? Are you making America a place where people are better, kinder, more compassionate than they were yesterday, or do you make it a place of mistrust and callousness? Is your community better because of you or have you slipped into a rut of superficial holiday greetings, retail sales, and barbeques? Was that your flag lying in the road? If so, our fallen are on parade, and they ask that you pick it up.
Michael Parkyn lives in Stafford County
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