Bleeding Heart Liberal At The Veteran's Day Parade

[omega minimo]

The walk through the park to get the Sunday papers. The streets blocked off by police and the lines of Humvees slinking by. Small group of visitors around the Viet Nam Memorial in Capitol Park. Squirrels scampering for nuts on a grey November day.

And crossing on the park path, an old woman riding a scooter, wearing a crisp white military nurse uniform and cap, a U.S. flag fluttering from her hand. Beside her strides her husband, proud bearing in his army green uniform, carrying a larger flag waving smoothly behind them.

Tears flood to the bleeding heart liberal's eyes. They are so _______. What can I say. They are proud, patriotic, dressed sharp, dignified, beautiful on this day of honor to their service to their country.

I almost want to ask them-- Did anyone take your picture today!?! They stream by grandly and then I see him. A man approaches and asks to take their picture. Brilliant!! I see him show the badge hanging around his neck-- someone from the press. I hear the word "Korea."

I would have thought they were WWII Vets, but time passes, the old get older, now the Korea Vets are the Greatest Generation.

Now my heart is wide open. The dumbstruck anguish of the day is too much. Down the park path to the sidewalk, the parade passes by. It's a grey day and there are only a handful of people here and there on the street. The military vehicles and marching bands pass proudly down the street as if alone. No cheering crowds, no exuberant celebration of flag and country. An empty honor.

My heart is breaking. On this day, the bizarre mix of quiet, empty grey city streets, proud parade playing to a crowd of nearly none, on this first weekend after the national election that may bring some reckoning to the latest needless war, is all too much. The Korean War Vets that I mistook for WWII Vets had The Look-- the look of American patriotism and pride that grew mottled by the controversies of the war in Viet Nam and corporatized by the first Bush War on Iraq, then compromised by the Bush Iraq War II.

The contrast is too much-- the crisp nurse's whites and soft officer's greens buffetted by the Red, White and Blue striking across the park with the unseen specter of the current unecessary war hanging in the grey sky.

On February 14, 2003 we congregated in this park, many of us wearing timely outfits of duct tape and plastic sheeting amidst plenty of signs urging the Bush administration to NOT make war on Iraq. Millions of people gathered across the planet to send the same message. And one reason was to prevent another generation of veterans needlessly sacrificed-- not for the purpose of inter/national security-- but for the personal, private and profitable reasons of those who were entrusted with the command and the fate of the military.

I reach the sidewalk and pass a series of parading units of Viet Nam veterans-- who are Vietnamese..... then some more small marching bands, oversize pickup trucks with flags and signs... a truck pulling a Viet Nam era Hughey helicoptor and a big rig trailer with windows cut out for the helicoptor pilots to wave from... then the city fire department trucks and handsome firefighters walking alongside, handing fire badge decals to the children amongst the few families watching...

The kids are thrilled and screeching with joy. There are the heroes and the next generation of children who may one day be honored for their service to this country.

[omega minimo]

1. Kick for The Simpsons-- anybody watching?

:popcorn: