"Never talk to strangers, Timothy."
Sorry Mum, I have. Well, it wasn't my fault. I was standing by the traditional statuary Vietnam Memorial in Washington (as one does), which was a good vantage point for what I was hoping to do when I heard a lady talking about the Memorial. I couldn't help but want to add my opinion. As you've probably gathered I have one or two.
I explained that I hadn't been in Washington for ten years and I find the Vietnam Memorial everybody thinks of most interesting as there are various V shapes at work and it is a 3-D V. You have the basic shape outlined by the top of the slabs, The pathway goes down and back up creating another V putting that with the top you have a filled in V as a solid shape and then the way the ground is sculpted creates another V (or it does for me). It is one of those places also that I find moving. As I was there late in the day to avoid the full force of the sun, there were not so many people about.
I was a wee bit shocked that somebody answered their mobile phone there. I felt that was inappropriate. I had removed my hat as I walked through. It felt correct. Respect.
It is that lack of respect that leads me onto the newer WWII Memorial which has a pool. I can understand children wanting to go and soak their feet in it on a hot day, but I think their parents should have forbade it. But when a female, whose age was uncertain mainly since she was so obese she could have been anywhere from 20 to 40, plonked herself down, removed her shoes and socks and wiggled her feet about I had to resist the urge to tell her what I thought of her.
These monuments may not be sacred places, but I believe some respect is due. And yet respect is in short supply at the moment. A few days ago, somebody had splashed green paint over the statue of Abraham Lincoln. Most of it has been removed and they are still working on it. But why did the perpetrator(s) do it? When I stepped inside the Memorial I removed my hat. I am old fashioned.
So Mum, before you scold me for being a naughty boy and not doing as I was told, the lady was very nice and didn't do anything wrong with me, but I did learn from you that some places are of special meaning to others, be they churches or mosques, or in this case, memorials, and that there are some standards we should aspire to. Thanks for inculcating a sense of decency into me. It's a shame other people never had such a wonderful mother as you. You were the best, and as with Laing, who was the best husband I could have ever had, cancer has taken the best first and left the dross behind. I need to attain the level of decency both of you taught me. I love you both.
