Iwo Jima and Gratitude

On my recent trip to Washington, DC I stayed in a hotel in the concrete jungle known as Rosslyn, Virginia. With its high-rise office buildings and hotels it lacks the red brick charm of its neighbor, Georgetown, just one mile away across the Key Bridge, but it is very close to one of the area’s important monuments. While most of our nation’s capitol’s sights are centralized around the National Mall, the US Marine Corps War Memorial, also known as the Iwo Jima Memorial, is often missed because it is across the Potomac River in Arlington, Virginia.

When I lived in DC many years ago I somehow never managed to visit it, so this time I decided not to miss the opportunity. Certainly not a pedestrian friendly area, I felt like I took my life in my hands on the 10-minute walk from the hotel, but once there I was mesmerized. The statue by Felix de Weldon is a bronze recreation of Joe Rosenthal’s famous photograph showing US Marines placing the flag during the battle to take Iwo Jima Island in Japan during World War II.

Set in an open park-like area overlooking the Washington Monument in the distance, the statue is massive, and the 32-foot high figures are breathtakingly life-like. It is dedicated to all Marines who have given their lives since 1775 and is engraved with the name of every battle fought since then, along with these words: Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue.

On this pretty spring day there were throngs of tourists who had come to take pictures of the memorial. Small children played, shrieks of laughter ringing out as they ran about, oblivious to the meaning of this huge statue. Two young men, hand in hand, meandered through the park with a photographer, posing for formal pictures together, the kind used to announce an engagement, perhaps. The scene was one of ease: people enjoying, in peace, the freedom for which those Marines had fought.

The gay couple taking photos in the shadow of the monument, on the very day that the Supreme Court was joining the national debate over same-sex marriage, was a vivid reminder of the freedom I so often take for granted.

I do not like war. Really, does anyone? I abhor the senseless loss of life, and I oppose it every chance I get. I do not always agree with the decisions made by my government. Again, does anyone? But it is exactly that right to dissent, my right to vocally disagree without repercussion, which is guaranteed by my government and protected by those who have gone to battle. The memorial filled me with gratitude for the freedom we have here to live as we chose, and to continually participate in the governing discussion.

Today, in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, I am also feeling gratitude for those who risked their lives for others here. The “first responders”, those bound by their profession, firefighters, police and medical workers, and those there by circumstance, put their own safety aside to save others. My father was a policeman and I grew up knowing he was a hero. If ever there was an emergency, he was the man you wanted to be nearby. There is a special place in my heart for all those like him, who choose to step toward danger to shield others, those for whom “uncommon valor is a common virtue.”

That day in DC I wandered a bit further down the hill and found Arlington Cemetery laid out before me, white marble headstones glowing in the soft light as dusk fell, a beautiful and sobering sight. And also nearby, a modern bell tower guarded by two statues of lions, surrounded by beds and beds of tulips just beginning to bloom. “What’s this?” I thought. It is a Carillion, donated by the Netherlands to express thanks for the United States’ aid during and after World War II. The bells ring out every day, a regular reminder of gratitude.

Gratitude: definitely the theme of the day.

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