Honoring the Fallen

Here is why I admire Senator John McCain, even though I disagree with him on most issues. (Link via Pandagon.) I see nothing necessarily pro-war or anti-war in acknowledging the names of our fallen soldiers and in seeing their flag-draped coffins brought home, with all the attendant pageantry as befits men and women who have voluntarily placed themselves in positions of tremendous risk.

A friend of mine said this, in an e-mail:

"Agree or disagree about this war, the majority of those faces last night [on Nightline] were 19-21 years of age. They should be seen. They shouldn't be just numbers. I can not imagine why some of the families were upset about this. When I saw the black & white photo of a smiling Kirk Straseskie, the young man from Wisconsin whose death struck me so hard, it was nothing short of profound. Here was someone who always wanted to be in the Marines since he was a little kid, someone who lost his life trying to save others because it was a natural thing for him to do, he had spent his life helping so many people. He deserves to be remembered. They all do. Seven have been lost from Minnesota. One took his own life. He wasn't included last night."

I have yet to live in a town where there is not a granite memorial bearing the engraved names of soldiers from that town lost in some war or other. Mostly they are Viet Nam, Korea, or World War II memorials; I've also seen World War I memorials and in one town a Civil War memorial whose names are so worn one must angle oneself against the sun to read them.

Memory is a fragile thing that disappears all too easily. We should not confuse it with politics, lest we debase both. All names and faces eventually fade away, but we should never hasten the process.