Coach Wade and Coach Shine

Shine;

I had a great weekend. I'm still angry about it. Pearl Harbor made $75 million last weekend. At an average of $5.00 per ticket (matinee's and such) that's 1.5 MILLION people that got a 60 foot screen view of the horror of combat.

With that in mind, I'd like to know why Santa Rosa, CA chose not to do a damned thing to honor our veterans? Why was MINE the only car to pull off of hiway 101 at 3pm to observe the moment of silence the President called for? Why, when I jogged four miles through my neighborhood Monday afternoon, did I see precisely FIVE flags?

If you have an "african-american" heritage month, Santa Rosa will throw a festival. If you have "scottish-american" heritage month, Santa Rosa will post flyers and give you a presentation of historical Scottish music. If you're homosexual, Santa Rosa will fall all over themselves to schedule Gay Rights festivities.

But you ask for sixty seconds to honor America's fallen soldiers, just sixty seconds of silence in memory of the veterans who bled to give you the right to ignore them, and Santa Rosa can't be bothered.

But Bodega Bay was packed. Beaches in Northern California had a record turnout on Monday. While I was parked by the side of 101, observing the sixty seconds of silence, three people blared their horns at me. I'd like to think they were saying, "I can't stop now, but I'm with you in spirit!" but I just can't seem to convince myself that's true.

I'm ashamed of where I live. Even during the three years I spent in Alaska, we at least took the time to honor the veterans who endured hardships we can't even fathom so that we would never have to.

So, yeah, I hada great weekend. It was Monday that ruined it for me.

~D.