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memorial day
aura
Veteran
In memory of all those who have killed in war
or died in war
I offer this:
The War
A lifetime later I met him,
that 18 year old kid who had killed in a war,
now grown old.
It was indeed a lifetime later.
I had died in that war, in the bombing ruins,
on the other side.
He told me that at the beginning of the war
we could not forgive
we could never forgive
them.
He told me that by the end of the war
we could not forgive
we could never forgive
us.
On both sides all of us had suffered
and many of us had died
giving this world the opportunity to learn
compassion.
Thank you for learning
compassion.
It means we did not suffer and die
for nothing.
-Aura Waters
or died in war
I offer this:
The War
A lifetime later I met him,
that 18 year old kid who had killed in a war,
now grown old.
It was indeed a lifetime later.
I had died in that war, in the bombing ruins,
on the other side.
He told me that at the beginning of the war
we could not forgive
we could never forgive
them.
He told me that by the end of the war
we could not forgive
we could never forgive
us.
On both sides all of us had suffered
and many of us had died
giving this world the opportunity to learn
compassion.
Thank you for learning
compassion.
It means we did not suffer and die
for nothing.
-Aura Waters
0
Comments
I was in the last four years of a military career, since I had already decided not to reenlist. I had already spent a few years in Korea and had been introduced to Son Buddhism. My practice was a big part of, but not the only reason I left.
But about every day in good weather for those last few years, I'd walk out into those endless rows of little gravestones. I'd read the names as I walked down the line. Then I'd sit under a tree and meditate. Sometimes I would think deep thoughts about how different the world would be without their sacrifice, or if the world would have been much different, in the long run. I'd wonder what they would think of today's world.
Mostly I just thought of what a terrible waste of lives I saw, and how they were all guys like me, people who just wanted to get it over with and go home.
That is what I relive, every Memorial day.
May Buddha's Compassion touch all our lives today.
- John Cole
Thanks genkaku for the name and link
@Sandalwood Yes remembrance and all the solemn sadness is a bit odd considering people are ready to go to war in a heartbeat again