By Molly Tortolani
KNOWN BUT TO GOD
Who do you really remember in life? How many days in a week do you take advantage of the people who died for you? Some people go through life not thinking or caring about the people who made us what we are today. I tend to think that most people just don’t care. They take advantage of everything they have and don’t appreciate how it all started. Sure, you could go through life not caring or thinking about heroes from the past but then you would be missing a part of history and who you truly are. If you wanted to you could sit around never thinking of your past relatives and what they did and how their choices affect your life. You could just sit around and not care. To me that’s not right. It’s the past that makes us who we are and the people who impacted and affected our past that makes us who we are. Even the ones who died without a name were still part of that impact. In war thousands of people walk out onto a battlefield and yet, only hundreds will return. Family members of those who lived will hold their soldiers in their arms and give thanks that they could once again see their face. The families of the casualties will mourn their lost and cry for the lost soul of loved ones. The ones that lived fought for their country or cause and the ones that died, died for their country or cause. In the end they all did the same thing alive or dead, they helped a cause of which they believed in. They all deserved to be remembered, because what they did made us who we are today. Not all soldiers are remembered; some of them die without a name. Some die with a name but are never found. In the end they also fought for a cause. Eventually most names fade, it’s a fact of life. Eventually stories are replaced and the names seem to become unimportant. Yet, that isn’t true. Even if their memory fades their actions do not. They still did something for us that make us who we are. War tears people apart and yet can also start new lives. So many people now are selfish and uncaring. They could probably careless about the people who died for their beliefs. I know it’s weird that in this century especially my generation, that I care or maybe I’m just one of a few percent that are thankful for everything people have done over time to make us who we are. I know for a fact that my entire family for generations has participated or had to overcome war. One side of the family from Germany bound for death during World War Two for being Jewish, escaped and came to America to start a life of freedom. Another side of the family came over on the Mayflower and has been fighting for this country since then. I have an uncle who received a Purple Heart in the Korean War. I look at all the pictures and listen to the stories filled with action, sorrow and courage. It makes me proud to know that the blood running through me has always fought for what they believed in. Even the soldiers who died with out a name there is someone out there who is proud of them, I know I am. It takes real courage to step out onto that battlefield knowing that you may never return.
Just because they’re dead and just because they don’t have a name doesn’t mean that they’re not important. Everyone is important in his or her own way and everyone somehow has a way of impacting someone else’s life. Sometimes you try to make an impact where as other times it just happens. In the end, you someone how change someone’s life and whether they thank you for it or not, you know that you made a difference. Unknown, one day most of us will be unknown. It may be hundreds of years from now but most likely one day our names will not cross one persons mind, it happens. That’s why it’s important to make something of us in this time frame. Even if we fade we die with our accomplishments whether it be an award or an A+ on a math test. Those soldiers were really not unknown surely someone at sometime thought about them or had a good conversation with them. Just because their names died with them makes them no less important then ones who did die with a name. Most of them all died for the same cause and all died with courage and bravery in their hearts. Death for a cause does not make a person unimportant or weak, if anything it’s makes them even more important to remember. I don’t know if I’m crazy or just maybe a person who still thinks about the past even though it’s the present. I know that if I died without a name I would still want to be remembered. Even if I were never found I still would have lived. Many people pretend to care where as only few do. If you lose sight of your past the future will mean nothing. All these people died for our future. Then most people have the nerve to repay them by not caring. Without them we would not be who we are today. In fact, many of us probably wouldn’t even be alive. Remember the ones who died for us, name or no name. When you really think about it, a name is just a label for who you are. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier represents all those astounding soldiers who died without a name. To be chosen to lay a wreath upon it is a great honor. Most people would do it just for the honor, not because they care but just for the ego boost. Personally, I don’t want to be given the chance for the honor or anything like that but simply because I want to do it because I admire and care about those people lying in that tomb. I take interest in the past and find myself sitting up all night reading about wars, heroes and how they fight until the end even if they die they don’t go down without the fight of their lives. I respect everything that they did and all soldiers should be role models to people for courage and strength in what you believe in. It takes a lot to make a person think twice about someone they don’t know the name of or that they have never met before, I however am guilty for thinking of people I don’t know or never even herd their names. I guess I just think of their accomplishments and think of how remarkable they must have been. As time go by, we fade out, our names are forgotten and our bodies become just another part of the Earth. Yet, part of us is still remembered somehow in someone or something. Why give yourself honor, when you can offer someone and their memory love and respect. People, who can’t love others, are just as people look at them, self-centered and
heartless. I’m not saying that I’m an angel and I’m not saying that I’m compassionless either. I’m just one of those people in the middle that cares about the past and hopes that it’s memory will live on and the people who were a part of it. They made fade away over time but their memory and accomplishments are everlasting. On the Tomb inscribed in the western panel are the words, “here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to god.” The soldiers made great achievements and just like the inscription says they are, “known but to God.” Yet the glory is honored and we pay our respects to our American heroes. They fought for our freedom, the least we can do is pay our respect and thank them for what they did. I hope that their courage will be inspiring and their beliefs travel through many generations. Everyone dies, it’s something that is just part of life but, it takes a lot of die for something you believe in.