The Crosses

Last year, I did a Memorial Day post that featured the lyrics from John Mayer's "Belief" and a few pictures from a hillside in Lafayette, CA. I didn't explain much about why that hillside is covered in wooden crosses, but did include a link to the project's website. I think they explain it best here. This was the hillside on Memorial Day 2007:

And here is that same hillside from yesterday:

I glance at this landmark every time I drive by it on the freeway and I'm always a bit saddened as I see the count continually climb. I think the second picture gives you a pretty good idea of the sheer number of crosses on this hill. What's even more saddening (and maddening!) is that each of those white wooden crosses represents an U.S. Armed Forces life lost to the seemingly never-ending war in Iraq. And if Iraqi casualties were to be added in...well, let's just say that there isn't a hillside in Lafayette big enough.

Even though the war has fallen out of daily media coverage, memorials like this one serve as a grim reminder that we are still a nation at war and that people, families, are still losing their loved ones every day. I appreciate what the Lafayette volunteers do to keep that hillside up. I also appreciate every single man and woman over in Iraq, although I'm not happy about the fact that they're still there, or that they didn't get to BBQ with their families yesterday, or that the volunteers have to continually add crosses to that hillside.

Hopefully someone someday will put a stop to the violence and they'll all come home. Hopefully soon.