With all the remembering and paying tribute we have done on this trip, and whenever we are with the men of the armed forces, I think more and more about our role as United States in the conflicts in the Middle East and Africa. I’ve read op ends that we can’t do anything in the middle east with arms and amunition, bombs and violence (it just makes them hate us more), and we only anger and separate more when we march into foreign countries to try to help. Except when we marched into Europe, but then we were asked. Last night at our banquet table we had a spirited discussion of the wisdom of admitting even 10,000 Syrian refugees as we can’t really identify them… The conversation was spirited and laden with questions of our role in the world and who is going to "pay for it." I’m homeward bound to my own little homestead on the lake. Homeward bound and praying for peace. Last night at the banquet as we always have, a table was set for one… no one sits there as the table represents the missing in action and prisoners of war. The table is small as the soldier is alone in a small place somewhere. A single candle is lighted as the only light he may see… representing the light we keep burning in memory. During the table setting ceremony, the word remember is repeated. We drink a silent toast with water as the missing cannot respond to us, and they have no wine. We drink and remember. What are we remembering? Christian values of "care for my brother" buck up against how are we going to be able to continue "caring for my brother"… Just what is it exactly that we are remembering? That war is hell and we don’t want to go there? At the end of the ceremony, turning from the silent little table in our midst, we pray for the meal we are about to eat, for those in service, and for those who have fallen or are lost. For our entertainment a troup of children called "the North Star Kids" (ranging in age from ages 8 to 15) perform for us a Broadway medley and patriotic songs. They are brilliant and beautiful. They sing: "Come young citizens of the world; we have one dream of peace, prosperity, and love for all mankind." They sing the Grand Old Flag and God bless America. God bless the kids and grant them the peace and prosperity we have fought for all our lives. God bless us travelers today as we head "home." God bless you.
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