Today America celebrates Veterans Day. Unfortunately, for many, other than increased air traffic, the day unfolds like any other without a moment's thought for its intended significance. For those millions who have served in the military, fought or lost family to the service its attributive honor seems a little paltry. Well, to my mind at least.
War, together with its emotional and physical conditions, has always been a subject of enormous interest for me, especially World War II. My interest was first piqued when I spent a year in Israel. Still a young fledgling fresh from a rather isolated nest (my country of origin being the then sanctioned South Africa) I was overwhelmed by the real-life holocaust survivors working alongside me at the Kibbutz (where I was on a working vacation). Needless to say it is an immediately sobering moment when you're reaching down to plug a motorized milking teat to the utter of a lowing cow and suddenly spot that identifying blue tattoo. In a single moment the world can seem all out of place and out of time. But then Israel is one of those mystical places where the past and the present converge with a little of your future thrown into the mix.
When Israel finally spat me out I went home and obsessively studied up on the War, the Germans, The Nazi's and the 'Holocaust' and wallowed in all the dreadful things that humans do to one another.
Now, when I first arrived in my new home country, the first thing I did was watch documentary after documentary about the good ol' US of A. Many I don't remember and many I turned off half way through but there was one series that I immediately went out and bought and bought again, gift wrapped and sent to everybody that I knew. This was 'A Band of Brothers' written by Stephen Ambrose detailing the experiences of E Company, (of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, United States Army 101st Airborne Division) from their basic training (at Toccoa, Georgia) through the American Airborne landings in Normandy, Operation Market Garden, The Battle of Bastogne and on to the end of the War. What I found so intriguing about this series, was not its depiction of the events of 'history', or its re-depiction if you will but instead, its attempt to portray the sheer breadth of human experience, emotional and physical, that war elicits from a human being. The depths into which a human being is expected to delve into their soul and the bravery this evinces. It leaves me at such a loss for words.
I live two apartment buildings down from an Assisted Living Facility. Every morning when I stagger out my front door, blind with sleep and dragging the lame dog behind me for her pee, I see an old gentleman dressed in what I have been told is the Old American Style, walking at a brisk clip up and down the road. Never past the corner; just one lap, but with such regularity that I time my mornings by his jaunt. Dressed in the same immaculate trousers and cardigan at 6.30am every morning he passes me silently.
Everyday I look into his blank face and wonder about the things he has seen and the silence in his eyes. I thank him quietly everyday for who he is and what he has done; for he is a war veteran. He spoke to me once, on Memorial day in fact, and told me about his service but he struggled with his emotions and in the recounting of details that appeared to be still too painful to relay - after all this time! He was never able to marry it seems and is still a bachelor at 80 years old.
So yes, I thank him quietly each day for the sacrifices he made in his life, so that I can live mine the way that I do. I wonder often how many other gentlemen just like him are still out there. An even more sobering thought....how many of today's youths?
And, whilst on the topic of veteran's - the world lost a veteran of another kind yesterday. Miriam Makeba, a world renowned champion of peace and a South African icon died yesterday after collapsing on stage. This laudable lady certainly qualifies as a veteran to be celebrated, honored and respected in my book.
What a sad sad day for the world.....
...Still moving those hips right till the very end....