Don't forget the good

I wrote a bit about WWI earlier. Actually, my unknowing and unasked Herefordshire correspondent did most of the writing.

When we visit battlefield cemeteries we can't help but think about the unrealized potential represented by all those markers and names. That's normal and right and proper.

Often we think about war in terms of waste. Lives wasted, property wasted, treasure wasted.

Up to a point this is correct. But it's not the whole point.

For the men and women who fall, who are scarred on the outside and within, it is sacrifice. It is giving of themselves for a higher purpose. There is nothing more noble.

Whether we agree or disagree with the particulars of any given conflict, the fallen, the wounded, and those who return unscathed (do they?) have each given all of us a precious gift.

There are babies who were never born to those who fell. But there are also babies being born all across the globe today who would not have had the chance were it not for the noble sacrifice of the fallen.

This evening as I drove toward home I was enchanted by the beauty of Venus and the new moon hanging in a southwest sky painted bold orange by the fading sunset. I stopped and took a few pictures. As I snapped away I heard a familiar sound, the throaty hiss of a Twin Pack turboshaft and the syncopated beat of an approaching UH-1N.

That's the 90th Security Squadron. They're out there, tonight, doing good. They're not alone.

Venus, Moon, Sunset

Venus, Moon, Sunset, Huey