Memory's Fault

Entrance to Memory's Vault

We've been thinking about what to say on this Memorial Day. We know that many other blogs will have eloquent and moving tributes. We'd like to, as well, but we are so far removed from this war. We have not lost any loved ones. Our families have not been asked to sacrifice. Nothing at all has been asked of us. Our lives have not changed. How do we memoralize an abstraction? So we took a walk through Fort Worden to look at gun batteries, and to walk the same paths where soldiers have walked. We make ourselves remember that our country is at war, because all that has been really asked of us is to not think about.

Names are still being added to the list of the war dead nearly everyday. Blood is shed. Tears are shed. Names and dates are hammered on a stone. A folded American flag is handed to a loved one. Someone raises a horn to blow.

Fort Worden, Memorial

At least we think that's how it still happens. We are not are allowed to see our fallen soldiers. Their dead bodies are our country's secret, and we are complicit in keeping it.

Do you remember that soldiers are fighting and dying everyday?

We say to all those soldiers: They may hide you, but we will remember.