My dad, son and I have spent four days touring Washington DC and having a meaningful and hilarious time together. I’m traveling with some folks that have wonderful sense of humor. We have been all over downtown DC and to the monuments, museums and memorials. Today we visited the new Air and Space Annex near Dulles and toured Mount Vernon. We were at the World War II Memorial on Tuesday and I found it moving indeed. We even met Senator Bob Dole there after a brief press conference he did. My dad got to shake his hand and that was special for him.
Some critics have panned the memorial as not being as moving as more recent memorials such as the Vietnam War Memorial. But the memorial does not have meaning because of its architecture but because of the sacrifice it memorializes. In other words it is not the memorial that qualifies the sacrifice, but the sacrifice that qualifies the memorial. It’s the same with our life in God. Like refrigerator art from our young children, it is not the quality of art that determines the worth of the artist, but our love for the artist that qualifies their work of art.
Tomorrow we go back downtown for the dedication of the Memorial. There has been a lot of talk about a possible terrorist incident associated with this weekend. It is interesting that it has not dampened the spirit or interest of the proceedings here as far as the veterans are concerned. We seem them everywhere and there is an instant camaraderie among as they pass each other on the street. These are men and women who already stared death in the face in their youth and they are not about to let the threat of terrorist activity rob them of the freedom they already sacrificed to gain.
I obviously don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but I also think the media gives us a distorted since of proportion about these dangers because it sensationalizes their news story. I am greatly looking forward to spending this day with my dad and son, as a grateful nation acknowledges the sacrifice these men and women made to conquer an unspeakable evil that sought to overrun the world.
What they faced, endured and overcome has been an incredible heritage for the rest of us. Only a fourth of those who fought in the war are still alive today and 1000 of them are dying every day. A tribute for their sacrifice is long overdue. I’m blessed indeed that God allowed us to experience this week together.
