Memorial Day

“Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.”

this is a quote from anais nin. she was a writer of (among other things) erotica. it seems she was a pretty good writer at that.

whatever. i think her quote is astoundingly true.

but i'm not in the mood to dwell today on things that went wrong. that's old and boring. and i do believe i'm just this side of over being ridiculous. i know what you're thinking. you're thinking, "it took you long enough." but it is what it is.

today is Memorial Day. a day of parties and gatherings. a time of remembering people who paid with their lives in wars that our country fought. i can't honestly say that all these people died for our freedom, because the more i read, the more i'm understanding that our wars have not really been all about preserving our freedoms.

so, i'm doing the remembering and not the gathering part.

the first Memorial Day celebration was in waterloo, New York with a speech given by the not yet president, james garfield. james garfield, of course was assassinated early into his presidency. probably for being such a force for civil rights for african americans.

waterloo, ny seems likely named for the place in belgium where napoleon was defeated. people say napoleon was a fascist, but i kinda more think he was a self-interested sociopathic, murdering dictator.

interesting how practically everything you can think about has some relationship to either love or war, huh?

and funny the things that cause wars. and funny- the thoughts and people who are made by wars.


“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.”

from "a farewell to arms." a novel about love and war, of course.