Remember

Dear Kate,

Remembrance Day for me, Veterans Day for you.  What do I get to remember, what difference does any veteran make to you?

I couldn't find any answer for you at the front page of the biggest news network for the more enlightened minds in your land, so I Googled it and found these top 3 results:

"Veterans served to protect our country. Here's where they can get served with deals and freebies today"

"The best Veterans Day sales to shop today"

"Veterans and Gold Star families to get free access to national parks, wildlife refuges and other public lands"

I don't know how Google works.  Maybe it knows how I see the world and projected on the wall of my Plato's Cave what I seek to see.  The seeker deserves what he seeks to seek.

Now that the uproar over Whole Foods' poppies ban is...over, the world here is again turned right side up.

But I could imagine whoever made the decision to implement the ban at the first place, most certainly someone very educated and experienced in business management, didn't mean to be disrespectful.  They probably did it out of a casual disregard, like they would and should with elements extraneous to the healthy day-to-day operation of their business to make the world whole with their foods (the business that Jesus also claimed to himself engage in).  To ban a poppy is not unlike to allow on their store display a witch during Halloween or Santa Claus by Christmas: it's just a reasoned and seasoned business decision that speaks nothing about any deep conviction.  If the seekers in the market want them to wrap their wholesome products up any differently, they will honor the wish, as long as the stake-holders' interests are served.  You don't need to believe in the possibility of hope or live out the possibilities of joy and peace to sell Christmas.  Maybe next year they will give out freebies to veterans and their families too.

I used to observe the weeks leading up to Remembrance Day like I would with Lent and Advent, taking out books from the library, reading stories about the big characters and little heroes, just to get myself ready for an honest observance.  I didn't want to show up like a foolish virgin with empty hands to desecrate what I claim to honor.

Two weeks ago my son exclaimed at the dinner table, "Dad, I couldn't believe you did that to us when we were still so young!"  What he was talking about is that I showed them a movie called "Come and See" when they were....I honestly couldn't recall how young.  He somehow came across the movie again recently and the horror of the images came back to him like a nightmare he couldn't suppress.

Yeah, I used to do that a lot, taking my family on pilgrimages, if not to hallow, at least to not desecrate.  But what "authority" do I have to impose on them a story?  They will come around to put a poppy on their vest, if it fits the rest of their outfit.  The market will decide for them.  I was mistaken about the sort of business I thought I should engage in as a father; I am now fired from what I was never hired for.  Who says there's a mandate for being a father, a leader of a little land?  Who writes the constitution of our hearts?

It's a Wednesday for you.  I am sure you are busy working, with big decisions to make, suggestions from your boss, your loved ones, the church, for you to pay heed to, growth of all kinds to pursue, spiritual ones not least.  And you will do your best to honor all them wishes, I trust.  My kids will probably go shopping.

I will go out for a walk now.

Yours, Alex