Being Veteran's Day, we took a trip to France to St. Avold, a US Memorial site. The trip was about 2 hours total from our home here in Germany, and I figured I would give a little reflection on the site as a whole.
The weather was really good for early winter day. It was about 38 degrees and a good grey cloud hovered over most of the memorial. The trees still had a great deal of leaves on them still despite the terrible gust of wind that would take your breath away.
The site itself was quite large with over 16,000 soldiers buried there. This is quite the sight, for those of us not living close to Arlington or Calverton National Cemeteries. It was a good day to reflect on the sober reality of how many individuals truly gave their existences on this Earth for the good of others.
The only observation that I would like to note that maybe someone can help me with is the overall "Christian" feel of these cemeteries. Several references to 'Resurrection to Joy"; and of course the obvious grave markers being Crosses.
It was just an observation, but I wonder about the use of the Cross as a national marker for a tomb. Knowing that some had Jewish Star of David also, Did the Cross represent 'Christian?' or was it pulling from a 'sacrificial' sense of the soldier giving his life, 'like Christ?'. I am not being sarcastic or irreverent here, I am merely asking out of ignorance.
Either way, it was a thought-provoking trip.
Those of you who have attended or not, do you know any relationship between:
King David, Constantine, King Arthur, and George Washington.
(you can't google or wikipedia it...that's cheating)
They were all Free Masons.
ReplyDeleteThey've all been portrayed on film by Keanu Reeves and Sean Connery (who are Free Masons).
ReplyDelete