Disrespect

I am in great sympathy with "skaters," i.e. the kids who do stunts on skateboards. We've expanded skateboard acrobatics into an Olympic sport, yet the average American kid has nowhere to practice, what with property owners who worry over their liability for injuries, and adults who sometimes forget that underneath the spiked hair, tattoos and bizarre piercings, you often find a genuine person.

But there's a limit to my sympathy, and I think I've just reached it.

Yesterday I visited the Mississippi Vietnam Veterans' memorial in Ocean Springs. The memorial is a space between two high walls, and with an opening at each end, and a square black column at one end, it resembles a gigantic gun sight. This is probably no coincidence. As you approach from the north, you look through the "gun sight" and see a "Huey" helicopter on a pedestal at the far end. As poignant as I find many of these memorials, the Mississippi one is among the most heart-rending. Along the interior walls appear photos of most of the deceased veterans, etched in black marble. Their names appear in a column at the foot of each column of photographs.

You cannot help seeing these young men's photos and thinking about the promises unfulfilled. Many are the standard military-service studio portrait, but about half comprise an assortment of other shots: high school graduation gowns, senior-prom tuxedos, a few photos taken "in-country," and a curious assortment of other, more personal poses. One photo appears to be the only one the family had on hand, and the soldier, depicted in a plaid shirt, looks like he's no older than fifteen.

This memorial shares space with a Korean War memorial, a monument to submarines and submariners, and a modest tribute to World War II. Unfortunately, the town, in an attempt to get maximum use out of the acreage, has also installed a "fitness trail" that winds around and between the military monuments. That in itself seems innocuous enough, except that it attracted this:

The inscription on this horizontal tablet reads: "I am fighting to protect and maintain what I believe in and I want to live in a democratic society. If I am killed while carrying out this miission I want no one to cry or mourn for me. I want people to hold their heads up high and be proud of me for the job I did."

Those scuff marks that you see along the polished marble are skateboard tracks...

They were easy enough to wipe off, but how dare some young brat use this space for a skateboard course?

Not far from that spot, I visited a gun shop, where the clerk was showing an M-16 or AR-15 rifle to a tubby fellow in his mid-twenties. As he admired all the rifle's features and workmanship, the young guy remarked that he'd sure like to have one, and would have to save up his money. I remarked that he has an uncle who would let him play with one of HIS M-16s, and would even furnish the ammunition and targets. The kid blushed and slunk out of the place, as the guy behind the counter (a man about 60) just grinned quietly.

tags: vietnam  veterans  skaters  skateboards  military  

links: digg this    del.icio.us    technorati    reddit