Veterans Day Statement

I made this picture while on a mountain ride in October Today is Veterans Day. There will be no courier activity Uptoon so instead I have some work to do on both my Mountain Bike and UN Montero. Here in Dooleyville Ida's heavy rain still comes and the water is flowing from the lowlands across a small plain 10" deep/50 meters wide across the road into Loch Dooley. It is an interesting scene, I will post pictures soon.

As a military 'veteran' myself who has been reading and learning about our present situation I am very confused with the general public's lack of understanding as to the "why". I have heard it a bit in between the college football chatter since Friday. It is not overly discussed like baseball and other insignificant distractions however since Friday I have heard more than once people talking about what happened at Fort Hood, the largest US Army installation in North America. The verbal transfer has ranged from , "Idiot" to "How could this have happened?" to the latest where people are actually wondering if he had been assessed by the FBI a year ago, "Why did they not stop him then?" All these generalizations take away from the actual true cause of the 'insurgency' making it to the heart of Texas.

This Veterans Day I am not seeking any reasons as to why it happened or why he did it or how we could have prevented it. Instead I am giving consideration to the now, the magical instant before us which has been created by a series of continuous actions of the Nation that I happened to be brought to life in. I am willing to take that look inside of myself and face what I am paying for and working towards. The answers that we are seeking are right there below the surface of our emotional transition from the lie to the truth. As hard as it is to accept learning as it intertwines with suffering I will continue to face it by educating myself about it and be willing to discuss the events as they happen with others smart enough to know that there are consequences for the actions of a Nation that perpetually turns their eyes from looking at it. For me the only way to respect the memory of veterans on this Veterans Day is to be as aware of the 'reality' as possible. From this stance there are no delusions, only feeling what is real as I take part in sharing space with it.