In the Valley of Elijah Tomorrow we honor our countrys heroes, those brave men and women who once fired muskets and who now patrol the sands of a foreign land. We remember the frigid Delaware crossed by Washington as he met the English. We recall A country sundered by civil war and stitched back together by a a tall weary man in a black stovepipe hat who saw his neighbors locked in battle at places called Fort Sumter, Shiloh, Gettysburg, and a hundred unsung, unknown hills and hollows where brother fought brother as blood spattered green grass and dry leaves and graves remained unmarked until finally they were forgotten by the grieving families as they, too, became dust upon the pages of history. We recall the trenches of France where young men lay in mud awaiting enemy fire and nerve gas during the First World War. We recall the landing at Normandy, the jungles of Vietnam, and the present conflict whose purpose has been lost to politics and bureaucracy. Every day an American soldier somewhere around the globe dies and if they do not die physically, their souls are forever changed by what they see. Tommy Lee Jones stars in a film called In The Valley of Elijah. It is the story of how war changes men and has the power to destroy humanity. After investigating the death of his own son home on furlough, he discovers that he was butchered and burned by his fellow soldiers. He finds his sons cell phone and is able to down load enough footage to see the horror of the killing there in the sands if Iraq. He watches as young men lose all sense of right and wrong as they murder children and dogs without remorse. It shows how their souls grow twisted and destroyed in the burning sand as war distorts humanity. As the film begins, Jones is seen assisting a new immigrant custodian at the local school by teaching him how to raise the flag into its proper position, stars on top, stripes below. When the movie ends he stops at the school on his way home and reverses the flag to its upside down position, the universal signal of distress. He secures it with duct tape so it will remain with its stars billowing below its stripes .By doing this he is telling the world that our country is in dire need of someone who will assure that young men are not being butchered for no discernible reason and that his country is being held hostage in the incompetent hands of its present elected officials and has become twisted into a dark carnival where killing is an acceptable ride even among comrades. As a veteran himself, he sees the hopelessness stitched across the cloth as he raises it to the top of the flagpole in front of a confused foreigner who struggles to understand this sudden change. This is a provocative film and I highly recommend it. It was Sherman, who during the Civil War, said it best, War is Hell. His simple words have echoed down through history to blossom a crimson red at the feet of almost every generation to follow. We love our veterans and we do our best at BFQC to repair the damage received in those dark places where only brave men walk. We appreciate the VA but we wish they would do a better job healing the wounds inflicted upon the soul. We are not counselors or therapists, but we are Americans who owe those whove served and, who in the process have paid a dear price.We recognize that some will never leave the Valley of Elijah, that a part of them will always reside there, not as dramatically as in Joness movie, but more subtly, where the heart lies sundered and the mind cannot forget what the eyes have seen. To every member of the military we give thanks for your service and to those of you who sleep beneath rolling hills and burning sands we salute you. Though Memorial Day originated after the Civil War to honor the dead, we take this opportunity to honor all of you because we know that something has gone missing while you defend us. It cannot be patched by a band aide, but it can be recognized by everyone who calls themselves an American. When I woke this morning, my fathers ceramic likeness lay beside me on the bedside table. I remembered his pictures as a young man before WWII and then the gaunt, hollowed face of the veteran holding me in his arms as an infant. I remembered there had been no smile on his lips and that those eyes of such extraordinary blue were vacant. I finally understood that he had still been gazing into the Valley of Elijah.KB
Posted on: Sun, 25 May 2014 14:40:35 +0000
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