A Hillside of White Crosses
Wed Dec 20, 2006 at 05:48:38 PM PDT
Editor's Note: Here is a San Francisco Chronicle blogger's perspective -- with photo -- of the crosses. Karen, thank you for posting such a beautiful tribute to your family and painful reminder of the cost of war. -Elisa
In the local news is a story about the town of Lafayette and the controversial placing of white crosses on a hillside on private property across from the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) station. A sign has been erected there that proclaims the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq. This testimony can be interpreted by each individual as they choose. Some say it is a form of protest, some say of honoring, some remain silent.
There is much brouhaha over these crosses. In fact, I believe the story has made national news.
For me, the green hillside, dotted with the contrasting stark white crosses, is a welcome and necessary, albeit profoundly sad and sobering, reminder. It reminds me of the cost of armed conflict. It reminds me that my mother lost her brother to war in WWII at age 21. It reminds me of my mother's and my father's service in the military. My dad served as a fighter pilot and my mother a pharmacist mate. It reminds me of how proud I was of my mother's service to this country, when, 10 years ago, we were given the American flag in her honor during her memorial service. I will feel that same pride when our family receives this country's flag upon my father's death for his brave service.
It reminds me of my mother's journey to Europe to locate her brother's grave in Belgium, 40 years after his death. She had never been to Europe, had never seen Cutty's grave. But he was her only sibling, a brother she adored and grieved for the whole of her adult life. She was determined to visit the white cross that stood at his grave, to honor him in this way.
I cherish my Mom's picture standing as she is, by herself with a bouquet of brilliant red roses in hand, head bowed, honoring the memory of her brother in front of the white cross that marked his grave among thousands of others. Row after row of white crosses against a vast expanse of green.
These simple white crosses in Lafayette get my attention as well they should. They commemorate a powerful sacrifice that no one should ever forget or take for granted.
It is somewhat difficult to accept others' politicizing the white crosses on the hillside in Lafayette, but I understand how it churns up debate. It is in our own minds, in the way we choose to think, that we begin any journey of peace, of honoring and remembering. There is no honor in avoiding the knowledge of the cost of war, or of being made to feel it's bad to discuss those losses, or to want them to stop.
The white crosses on the green hillside are a beautiful testimony -- silent and profoundly moving.
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