The Editorial Cartoon in the Tacoma News Tribune today was a fairly simple affair - Black, with a mother and child at a gravesite.  The child clutching a flag, the mother with a tri-fold burial flag in her arm.

The caption was “A prayer for the day when we don’t have new names to mourn…”

All in all, a wonderful piece, highlighting the sacrifice of not only our servicemen, but their families. 

But also thought provoking.

Because, in the final analysis, the only nation that has no new names to mourn, is a nation that has passed from history.

And the people of that nation would be dead, or enslaved, and have many, many more names to mourn.

So while our memory of the fallen should be respectful, and we should remain aware and cognizant of their sacrifice (and that of their families), we should also honor them for their deeds, and rejoice that our nation can produce men and women who are willing to stand on the wall for the rest of us, and throw themselves in harms way, to protect our people, and our way of life.

A moment of silence, for the fallen.