American Memoriam

Picture: U.S. Capt. Alfonso Johnson. Afghanistan, 2009.

Today marks Memorial Day in America, a day when people openly face the reality of war. Whether remembering those who died yesterday for our freedoms or those facing the looming threats of tomorrow, your dedication and discipline will always be remembered and respected. Today the AP featured an uplifting article, with some hip-hop thrown in for excess elevation.

U.S. Capt. Alfonso Johnson, stationed in Afghanistan at the moment, keeps a synthesizer linked up to his computer to make hip-hop beats in his free time. His son Xavier, living in New York, used one of his father's tracks to rap a poem he had written when he was 11, expressing the bottled up feelings about his family’s wartime circumstance; an emotionalism shared by many families well beyond America’s borders. Capt. Johnson often views with pride the homemade video he and Xavier made together knowing that the music helps his son channel the emotions he feels at such a critical age in adolescence, when they can better sense the mortal risk they're parents are taking in combat than younger children. He said the ability of music "can help other kids express themselves, say things that they wouldn't say normally."

Regardless of the diverse opinions we hold about the current wars America's engaged in overseas, let's take this day to remember those who do their honorable duty to protect us from external threats. We also must not forget the numerous Afghan and Iraqi security forces who are confronted with these same issues everyday. These men have lost exponentially more personnel than our forces, yet we often perceive the burden as being on our shoulders alone. We must come together in this accelerating world of complexity and stop irrationally perceiving this deep situation as "us" v. "them." We need to properly analyze our actions independent of bias, ignorance or special interest to move our world forward. Change is inevitable, progress is not. It’s our world to grasp, all of us. The key is reaching out together. P.E.A.C.E.

Code Red - Give Me A Reason