{"id":3693,"date":"2011-04-09T09:17:22","date_gmt":"2011-04-09T14:17:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bluefootedmusings.com\/?p=3693"},"modified":"2011-04-09T09:31:16","modified_gmt":"2011-04-09T14:31:16","slug":"monumental-feelings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bluefootedmusings.com\/?p=3693","title":{"rendered":"Monumental Feelings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I picked up some books from the library yesterday, and while was there, I noticed that someone had spruced up the monuments with fresh flags and flowers.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bluefootedmusings.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/monument.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3694\" title=\"monument\" src=\"http:\/\/bluefootedmusings.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/monument-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" srcset=\"http:\/\/bluefootedmusings.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/monument-300x224.jpg 300w, http:\/\/bluefootedmusings.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/monument.jpg 852w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>And I wondered what they (the sprucer-uppers and also the original erectors of the monument) wanted me to feel when looking upon this monument to combat veterans. Patriotism? Pride? Gratitude?<\/p>\n<p>Grateful I am, but not proud. Not proud to live  in a society that glorifies war. Not proud to be a member of the only  species on earth that goes to war with itself.<\/p>\n<p>I see this monument and I think about  all the young soldiers, scared, wounded, dying in pain, all their dreams  lost, all their talents wasted, all their families crying.<\/p>\n<p>Was that what I was supposed to feel? Frankly, I&#8217;d rather the monument builders and minders spent their efforts on trying to prevent future wars, or end current ones.<\/p>\n<p>To learn from our mistakes&#8212;that would be a real tribute to our war dead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I picked up some books from the library yesterday, and while was there, I noticed that someone had spruced up the monuments with fresh flags and flowers. And I wondered what they (the sprucer-uppers and also the original erectors of &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/bluefootedmusings.com\/?p=3693\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[124],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bluefootedmusings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3693"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bluefootedmusings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bluefootedmusings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bluefootedmusings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bluefootedmusings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3693"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/bluefootedmusings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3709,"href":"http:\/\/bluefootedmusings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3693\/revisions\/3709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bluefootedmusings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bluefootedmusings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bluefootedmusings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}