Challenge #18: Dark

This memorial was created in honor of local service men and women who have paid the ultimate price while serving our country.  It's a touching tribute that should be experienced by all who have the opportunity.

It's overwhelming to imagine that each cross represents a life,  a young life, that was never realized to it full potential because each one of them felt they must fight to preserve the freedoms that they held dear to their hearts and better the lives of those who desperately needed their help.

It's overwhelming to imaging the horrors of war that these people experienced and witnessed; the sudden finality of a violent death, or worse, being mortally wounded and left to die.  Slowly.  Painfully.  Alone.  

It's overwhelming to try and understand the impact that the death of each one of these people had on the lives of those who were close to them.  The insufferable pain that their families must have felt when receiving the news that their loved one had been killed in the line of duty.

It's overwhelming to think of the opportunities that the world has lost because of the tragic deaths of so many people and many of their off-spring that will never exist.  Great minds in science, medicine, the arts who will never have the chance to take us to new galaxies, show us how to cure cancer or entertain us with intricate concertos or spellbinding classics.

It's all so overwhelming to think of.  So we don't but only for a brief moment or two once each year.

To all who have served in the past, all who currently serve and those who will follow in your footsteps, I thank you.  And to those who, like Corporal Alexander Cameron, paid the ultimate price to preserve my rights and freedoms I am eternally grateful.