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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

Memorial Day



Now, as then, there needs to be a sense of obligation.

Monday, May 29, 2006; Page A22 (The New York Times)

DOES REMEMBRANCE matter? The Greek playwright Aeschylus was the 
author of dozens of works, and while most of them are lost to us, his 
"Oresteia" trilogy and "Seven Against Thebes" are among those that 
survive as jewels of world literature. And yet, on Aeschylus's tomb 
the brief inscription listed but one accomplishment: that he fought 
at Marathon. Yes, it matters.

That battle in the wars between Persia's mighty empire and the 
embattled Greeks is seen by some as a turning point in history -- in 
the struggle between East and West, or as some historical partisans 
might see it through their own tendentious lens, between darkness and 
light. Aeschylus saw things in more elemental terms. In "The 
Persians," possibly his first play, he describes a massive Persian 
force that is "Eager to bind on Greece the servile yoke." A messenger 
to the defeated Persian court brings back this account of the battle 
of Salamis, 10 years after Marathon (where Aeschylus also fought): 
"And now distinct we heard/From ev'ry part this voice of 
exhortation:/'Advance, ye sons of Greece, from thraldom save/Your 
country, save your wives, your children save . . ./The common cause 
of all demands your valor.' "

The Good War, circa 480 B.C.? Hardly. For as the playwright had 
reason to know, none of them was good, though some were necessary. 
Ancient warfare was as ugly as modern, probably more so. Once the 
battle turned one way or the other, it tended to become a rout, with 
the victors pursuing the vanquished and slaughtering them without 
mercy. Aeschylus portrays with humanity the suffering and lamentation 
among the Persians for their fathers, sons, husband and lovers. The 
questions that dogged the Greeks then are questions that divide us 
still: of the necessity of one war or another, and the wisdom of pursuing it.

What ought to be unquestioned among us is the honor due those who 
have little to say about the rightness of a war but who take on the 
duty of fighting it. Memorial Day in America dates back to our 
bloodiest and most divisive conflict, the Civil War. The observance 
of it has waxed and waned in solemnity in the years since -- mostly waned.

A White House commission was set up five years ago to encourage a 
moment of silence at 3 p.m. on this day. But as with most White House 
commissions, it hasn't had much success, which is perhaps just as 
well. This is the sort of observance that ought to spread by word of 
mouth and a common sense of obligation. So, a thought for this 
afternoon, about 3 o'clock: Today the common cause of all demands not 
your valor, or even your inconveniencing -- it demands only a moment 
of your time to remember.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/28/AR2006052801032.html 
> From crazygardens AT verizon.net  Tue May 30 19:22:42 2006
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Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 19:22:56 -0400
From: "Wendy Gulliver" <crazygardens AT verizon.net>
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Subject: [Homestead] Hey Gene
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Do you remember that couple that used to be on here in the mid-late 90's
(don't remember their names)?  They owned a real estate company called
Vamoose which specialized in relocating people to remote locations to 
survive
the pending y2k disaster.  I wonder what ever happened to them.

Wendy