Memorial Day 2012: “They hover as a cloud of witnesses above this Nation.”

The reality is nations go to war to resolve political conflicts, to impose on an opponent its own will. It is the final and hopefully least desirable action taken in international affairs. This is a world defined as the Will to Power and Presentation.

Presentation is the practice of showing by words and deeds information, intention, ultimately expectation, to someone else. It can shape the future in ways not intended. It can lead to armed conflict when the strategic objective might have been something short of going to war.  There are justifiable and unjustifiable reasons to go to war. That depends on personal civilian assessments of our government's Presentation objectives, stated and implied.

But there is one known consequence when a nation does go to war –- the ultimate sacrifice made by the men and women who serve in our military which we remember today. The negation of a future due to death in combat is something family and friends live with every day.

The below photo was taken at Arlington National Cemetery. The caption reads “"Fiancé killed in Iraq in February, 2007" and includes the following quote.

They hover as a cloud of witnesses above this Nation. -- Henry Ward Beecher

[JH]