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The Voice from the Big Black Stone I'm just a Big Black Stone - that's what most people think as they pass through the Veterans Courtyard. I sit here alone while people scurry past to work or lunch or to a meeting. Sometimes I get a curious glance, but then they just move on. A couple passes and the woman pauses as she points at me and asks "What is that?" Walking on, the man answers "It's just a big black stone." She lingers a moment, then she too walks away. Over there is a young woman - she is staring at a gray-haired man in a ragged fatigue jacket and a Vietnam Vet baseball cap who has stopped to stare at me. He hesitates as though he is afraid to come closer. As a tear rolls down his cheek, he slowly salutes, then hurries away, crying softly. Now the young woman turns and approaches me slowly - she hesitates, then starts to move away. 'Don't go', I think. I try to say 'Please wait and come back. Read what I have to say. Please touch me - it has been so long since I felt a warm human touch. I'm not just a Big Black Stone. I am all those who served and all those who died.' She shyly reaches out and touches me. Then as she starts to withdraw her hand, she slowly traces my letters with her fingers. I want to say, 'Please stay with me a moment longer. This stone is so cold and your hand is so warm. I have longed for a human touch for so long. Linger a while and I will tell you the story of one of us who lives inside the stone.' 'I was a grandson, a son, a brother, an uncle, a cousin. I was also a father, or so I heard. I had a little daughter who was born after I ............ died in Vietnam. You see - I never got to meet her and I think of her every day. If only I could have held her in my arms just one time, but that was not to be. Do you know her? Is she safe? Is she happy today? Does she ever ask about me? Could YOU be my daughter?' 'Wait - please. I have a few more questions. Please stay and listen to my story and answer some of my questions.' 'I am not just a Big Black Stone - I am a living testament to the bravery and honor of all the men and women who answered their government's call to step forward into an unpopular war halfway around the world and to go to a place we never heard of before - a place where we made the ultimate sacrifice. We were the finest our country had to offer. Rather than run away to avoid the draft, we stepped forward bravely to answer the call of our country and for our sacrifice we were cursed and mocked and spit on and called 'baby killers.' Only our families and our friends knew the truth about us and they suffered more than we did as they heard the names we were called as they waited at home for our return.' 'Our broken bodies and bloody faces made TV entertainment for the folks back home as they ate dinner in the evening. Our suffering won Pulitzer prizes for the reporters back home as they photographed our agony and losses. And many of those who returned home still carry memories and deep personal scars that they can only reveal to those who understand because they also served.' 'Please tell me about my buddies who I left behind in the Nam. Did they survive OK? Are they alive and happy now or are they haunted by terrible memories and dreams? Or are their names carved along with mine on The Wall in Washington? If you happen to see one of them, be sure to shake their hand, look them right in the eye and thank them for their service and their sacrifice for our country. Ask them to explain what this phrase means - All gave some, some gave all.' 'I hear that Jane Fonda is now rich and famous and that some soldiers once threw their medals over the White House fence and that anti-war protesters now serve in our Congress. Could that really be true? I was angry with them once, but I am no longer bitter because I am now at peace here with my brothers and my friends. Rest in peace my brothers, rest in peace.' 'Remember that for your today, we gave all our tomorrows, You will grow older each day, but for me - I am 20 years old forever.' 'Thanks for taking the time to visit me and to hear my story, but there are more than 54,000 of our brothers and sisters on The Wall and every one on them has a story to tell, if only people would listen to us and remember us. Each of us was a real person who felt joy and pain, who laughed and cried, who loved and was loved, who had hopes for the future and dreams of a better time to come when we would return to The World - The World, that's what we called back home. But we never came back.' 'So when you leave here, tell your friends and family that I am here and ask them to visit me and all my friends who served their country so valiantly. And be sure to tell them to listen to The Voice from the Big Black Stone' Anonymous |