Shadowlight's Lighthouse

I'm feeling sort of embarrassed that I've had this ginormous poster of Rosie the Riveter on the top of my blog for a week and a half. (Yes, ginormous is a word. How dare you question me!!) It's not that I have some obsession with women in overalls. See, it was Memorial Day, and I felt I should do something more to commemorate that... my maternal grandmother was a Rosie the Riveter during WWII, working in an aircraft factory while my maternal grandfather was in the Army, serving over in Italy, the nation her parents had emigrated from. Grammie Eva died around Memorial Day, some 19 years ago. My mother said I would remember Grammie Eva on Memorial Day, and for most of those 19 instances, she's been right. So I applied some poetic license to join the personal mourning with the national mourning, and another cliche'd fictional Soldier's Letter Home was born. It's not that I don't understand the importance of the national mourning, but it's not personal to me the way my grandmother was. As we progress through to Flag Day and Fourth of July, yes, by all means, honor our soldiers... but never, ever forget that wars are only fought for a purpose. We go, we accomplish that purpose, then we get our collective national posterior out of there before anybody gets killed who didn't need to be. The day that war becomes the cause rather the effect is the day the real America dies. Of course, that's just my opinion. Maybe you like a strong police state.