Random Thoughts on the Weekend

I took Scout to her second agility class yesterday. There are only three in the class, which my husband says is a good teacher/student ratio. However, one of the three is an over-achieving Jack Russell Terrier, who can do the entire course in about 12 seconds. Scout has issues with the teeter, which scares her, and she doesn't really understand "weaving." It's been a year since her last class, so I suppose I should cut her a little slack. Also, yesterday, she really wanted to play with the other two dogs (and the trainer, I think) much more than she wanted to "study".

Last night we watched the movie, August Rush. Heavily sentimental, and I was surprised that the authors did not give credit to Oliver Twist for large chunks of the plot. However, the music is lovely, and there was one piece of dialogue that stopped me in my tracks:

Wizard (Robin Williams charcter, modelled on Fagin): What do you want to be in the world? I mean the whole world. What do you want to be? Close your eyes and think about that.

August (11 year old orphan who has run away, looking for his parents): FOUND.

Today our outdoor service was held indoors due to rain. We held our annual event to honor veterans between the services. The last three to be honored were World War II vets, but this year's honoree was a young man who had served in Iraq. The person who gave him the award noted that this is a different kind of war than that fought in World War II; no islands or cities to take; the enemy is not before you, but beside or even behind you. He also noted that that we are not hearing stories of heroism from Iraq, and speculated that this might be because the war is unpopular. That may be so, but I also suspect that we don't hear stories for the reason he first mentioned: because this is a different kind of war.

At our second service, we honored high school graduates with a special ceremony, one we designed shortly after I arrived here. We call all the graduates who are present to come forward with their parents. First we have the parents lay their hands on their children, and bless their children. Then we ask the parents to kneel, and have their children lay their hands on their heads, and say a blessing for them. I really love this action, where children bless their parents. And today the graduates who showed up were five young women who were all in the same confirmation small group. They have remained close friends, even though they are from different communities and go to different schools.

They say the weather here right now is "unsettled." We are in an "unsettled" weather system, which means we have been having thunderstorms and rain off and on for several days, with brief periods of sunshine interspersed. It's not awfully warm, but it's been very humid, and the grass is growing faster than weeds. (the weeds are growing pretty fast, too).

By the way, what do you think of my new blog design? I have been thinking about "typepad' lately, but it might be too hard for me.

Memorial Day

It's Memorial Day. I can't think of anything new to say, but I'd like to direct you here.

Last year, I posted on this annual event at church. At around this time of year, we have honored one of our World War II veterans at a reception at church. We have heard a story of the heroism of an ordinary man.

More than flowers or memorial services or parades, I think the best way to honor this day is to listen: to listen, honoring the sacrifice and recognizing the horror that is war. Listen closely to the stories, for they will speak softly, these humble and haunted men and women. And they will speak the truth.

I think the second best thing is to realize that all ordinary people can be heroes, both in times of peace and in times of war.

Heroes

Today at church we had our annual program and reception to honor service men and women and veterans in our congregation. This is a church that opened in 1947, and a community largely populated with World War II Veterans who were just coming home and starting families. The program includes prayers, saying the pledge of allegiance, and recognizing service people and veterans who are present. Also kind of a sentimental patriotic song. For the past three years, the group has chosen to honor one veteran from our congregation, and tell that Veteran's story.

This year they chose a man who had served in the Navy in the South Pacific, who witnessed the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima, who at Okinawa survived Kami Kaze attacks, the sad last desperate attempts by the Japanese who must have known they could not win.

A.'s family got him out of the nursing home for the morning, so that he could be honored. He came to our 8:00 worship service, and had the place of honor for the program and reception. There he sat in his wheelchair, listening to C. read about his service during World War II. It was more moving than I had expected -- for A. is clearly an ordinary man -- and also a Hero. It was a privilege to hear the story of what he suffered and how he served. And there are so many other stories like his -- stories of ordinary men and women who became, in an extraordinary moment, heroes.

It got me thinking, though: why is it that it sometimes takes something as terrible and destructive as a war to turn ordinary people into heroes? There are other causes, even in our time, that require heroes. Even this time can be an extraordinary one. And there are ordinary heroes whose stories we will never know, because they served for peace, and not for war, at home and not far away, in hidden and secret ways.

Perhaps the most extraordinary heroes are not the generals and the presidents, the explorers and the astronauts. Perhaps the best heroes have always been the ordinary ones, the people who never sought glory, but who recognized an extraordinary time, and something worthy of their time, their sacrifice, even their life.