Destruction of Solemn Tranquility

I always watch the ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day. I guess I feel it’s my duty to take time to remember all the dead people who are buried there and why. Yesterday the first shot I saw of the cemetery was just before full sunrise and a soft grey mist hung just over the headstones. It was eerie and yet peaceful. The next showing of the cemetery was later in the day at the tomb of the unknowns. Everything was bathed in warm sunlight and I heard birds singing. Little birds, perhaps sparrows, singing and singing. So beautiful the sound, so sad the place.

Then a voice announced that Donald Rumsfeld and George Bush would be in attendance at this sad, sad event. The sound of their names was like a sharp knife slicing through the tranquil emotional experience. My thoughts asked, how can they have the nerve to soil and disgrace this moment? How can they show their face here today? They know they are personally responsible for the fresh mounds of dirt that mark another life lost because of what they have done?

Then they walked in front of the camera. Rumsfeld actually smiled and waved to someone in the crowd. I’m quietly screaming, this is not a parade you bastard. This is a fucking memorial to dead people who died because you didn’t know how to do your job correctly. This isn’t about you, this is because of you and others like you.

Then george bush walked into the picture. Where did he get the nerve? He went through the ceremonial laying of the wreath with such a serious look on his face. He bowed his head in what he wanted us to believe was prayer. I wonder. Perhaps he was praying, praying that if there is a god he might one day be forgiven for what he has done. I doubt it.

Then there was the playing of taps. One of the most heart-wrenching sounds man has created. Damn straight, I cried.

Following all this, there were speeches by Pace, Rumsfeld and bush. I have no recall of what Pace said. I heard Rumsfeld speak of Flight 93 and some other equally inappropriate babble. Bush spoke of the those who are “sleeping” in the graves. I silently screamed, they aren’t sleeping you asshole, they are dead. He also spoke of the “fallen”. I again mentally screamed, they didn’t fall you asshole, they were killed. Over two hundred of the dead are there because you opted for a war that killed them. You can’t cover up a grave with pretty words.

After these speeches were given I didn’t hear the birds sing again. If they were singing I couldn’t hear them over the den of anger in my head. Damn it! Damn the voices and words that destroyed the song of the little birds. Damn them for the dishonor they cast upon this place of final peace. Damn the men who caused the destruction of that solemn tranquility.