Memorial

The man was standing outside of Wallmart. Had a small can in his
hand with a slit in it's lid. When I approached him he was stuffing a $5
bill into it.

He looked old, weathered and weak. He had a cap on that
identified him as a veteran. I got close to him and gave him all the change I had, paper and coins. Softly whispered to him, "if you boys stop fighting these wars, there won't be any". He smiled, rather bitterly, "I know, I
know...I'm against this war too".

He looked like he was about to cry. His eyes were misty and I'm sure his
heart was filled with pain and anguish from friends he had lost in battlefields of past.
We exchanged a few words and his final words were, "if those who start wars
fought them, we would have very few wars". I shook his hand and while he
kept saying, "I agree with you", I thanked him for what he had done for his
country and left.

I turned and looked at him and once again was drowned in an unbelievable
haze of "HOW". How could a country this big, this "powerful", this rich send his young innocent boys and now girls to battlefields far far
away, get them killed and maimed then ask the older generation veterans to stand in front of a Wallmart and ask for money to support them.

This country has the money to build the guns and bombs attached to
these kids and send them elsewhere to fight but has no extra money to
take care of them when they come back. An old veteran has to stand outside and ask for money.

I just don't know if it gets any sadder than this.