I jumped off the Metro for a few minutes on the way to the airport today, at the Arlington National Cemetery stop. It had started to rain, and I was hauling all of my luggage, so I didn't walk all the way to the gardens of stone. But the pause did afford me a moment to consider the meaning of this place.
Both times I have been to Arlington, it has made me remember the final scene from Saving Private Ryan; as the title character returns decades later to the grave of the man who gave his life to save Ryan's. The now-old man gives voice to the same existential questions all survivors face - and the need to feel that he has been worthy of the price paid in his behalf.
Seems like a good question for all of us to ask ourselves.
