Running at Arlington

Just another day at work, out for a run, from the Navy Annex into Fort Meyer and back.  While running my three miles adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery, I pass by Arlington Cathedral.  Today, though, I see six black horses, men in Army uniforms, somber faces, and a flag-draped coffin on a carriage.  As the procession gears up to inter their fellow soldier, I notice how few people are actually in attendance.  This is reality; the cost of war.  If forced to look forever upon those square miles of perfectly aligned headstones in close proximity on those hills, it would not be long enough to pay homage in their remembrance. 

As I run past, with my eyes fixed downward, the bells of the church resound in a familiar tune, with a long, hollow pause before one final strike signals 1 p.m.  For the living, it’s just another day.  My gait lengthens, my pace quickens, an odd tribute to the centuries of fellow servicemen now departed.