Memorial Day

I run a design/build school in central Vermont.  On one of our unused fields a group of local citizens has maintained a simple memorial to those who have fallen in Iraq.  Each soldier gone to his reward gets a simple white plastic flag.  The flags are pulled up each week and the field mowed by dedicated stewards who then replant each of the 4000 or so flags carefully placed in equally spaced rows.  The volunteers--mainly Vietnam era males--honor the dead and hope out loud that not another dies.  You cannot help but look upon this effort and not be moved.  You cannot look at this field of white flags and not wonder if these thousands of sacrifices could not have been avoided had we all made some sacrifices.  Had we not been so wasteful in our fuel use, would these friends, neighbors or family still be drawing breath?  Memorial Day is a day of reflection and honor dedicated to those who have fallen in service to our country.  Perhaps we should honor them on this day and use the other 364 days to rechart our energy use and policy to insure that we not again lose fellow countrymen because of our over-dependence and lack of restraint when it comes to oil.