How's your engine runnin'?
Is that bridge gettin' built?
Are your hands gettin' filled?"
Today I went running on the trail and on my last mile, I saw a train that was carrying a whole convoy of military vehicles headed south. There was this older couple watching it, so I stopped and watched with them. I asked the guy what it was, although I already knew. He said they were headed back to Fort Carson, likely returning from Iraq. He said he remembers standing in this same place ten years ago and watching them going the other direction.
So, I ran the last mile back to my car also remembering the last ten years. I remember attending annual war protests until they got to be too much to bear, this awful anniversary where every year the number of dead kept growing. And more years went by, and the war protests seemed to dwindle (or perhaps I, like many others, simply stopped paying as much attention, the wars being like background music in the grocery store, you hum along every once in a while, mostly not noticing) and my kids grew older and life moved on until all of the sudden you realize it has been ten goddamn years.
I remember being heartened some years back when it seemed to me that the vets of those wars were coming home and taking the war protesting into their own hands, which I believe is what turned the tide.
Anyway, hope everyone has a good Memorial Day holiday. May your barbecues be plentiful and may we all take at least a moment to be thankful that these godforsaken wars are finally coming to an end.
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