I am grateful to all our men and women who have served in wartime. I am also sorrowed by the loss of so many.
The moon gives you light,
And the bugles and the drums give you music,
And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,
My heart gives you love.
~ excerpt from Walt Whitman Dirge for two veterans
In my neighborhood park where I walk every night, there’s a stone marker with a brass plaque commemorating the graduates of Laguna Hills High School killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. I paused to thank them, but found myself asking if their sacrifices were worth it.