This afternoon I walked the Air Medical Memorial site with
my daughter Megan. I was there to see what preparation may be necessary for the
upcoming ceremony in June. The experience of visiting the site is always very
moving to me and I find myself reminiscing. There was the day my brother and I
found the site, the day we learned that the land was generously donated to the
memorial, our groundbreaking, and the remembrance ceremonies that followed.
This is also the place where countless lifelong friendships have begun, and
families have found significance and solitude.
At the center of the site, we have a hole where a flagpole
is placed and a flag is raised every year. I was looking to see what had made a
home in the hole or if it had filled up with rainwater like last year. It was
completely obscured by mud. After finding the hole and clearing the first
several inches, I looked for a rock to mark the location.
I found a rather unremarkable rock a few feet away and
picked it up. Like most rocks in the area, this was your garden-variety quartz,
about 10 inches in length, mostly flat, with groves that run along its length.
As I picked it up, I began to study its features. I’m a
sentimental person who will pick up a rock from a place or time I want to
remember, and stick it in my pocket. It doesn’t have to be special or unique in
appearance, just something from a place I don’t want to forget.
As I wiped dirt from its surface, I noticed that this
particular quartz was made up of several smaller structures. It looked as
though this rock was made up of hundreds of other smaller rocks. Each a
different color, shape and size, and they all fit together perfectly to make
this larger rock.
It struck me that this rock is a wonderful metaphor for the
memorial itself. You can look at each of the smaller segments as
representations of those we have lost and those who have been impacted by that
loss.
Just as the molecules of silicon did not choose to be part
of this rock, we did not choose to be joined by our common bond that is the
result of extreme and adverse forces beyond our control. Together we are
stronger. Collectively we choose to remember, heal, repair and live again.
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