“Arlington National Cemetery on a Sunday Morning” Clynnwersch, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, excuses the keeper for getting personal with his Memorial Day thoughts, specifically how the artillery shell that buried him in Korean dirt and debris could have been a foot or so different and might have ended it all.
So, he—the keeper, joins the surviving multitudes on this weekend to celebrate being alive, and remembering how it very easily could have been otherwise.
Reducing the weekend commemoration of life and death down to such an egocentric dimension produces a brutal human truth: the keeper says he is sorry for those who didn’t make it, but he is damn glad to be here and hopes you are too.Â
Amen, Bill.