Memorial Day

There's not much literature about peace, is there? The Mate, who makes movies and teaches people about writing screenplays, says it's because conflict is what makes a narrative. Some lyric poetry, maybe? It's hard to come up with much.

(There's literature that's not about war, per se, but that's different than literature devoted to peace as a narrative or thematic focus, and often war still lurks in the background, as for instance in characters who bear military titles or the scars of war.)

A lot of people in the United States are remembering the soldiers who have fought and fallen in the US armed forces. Apparently, the holiday began as a day of remembrance for the fighters who fell in the Civil War -- on both sides, and after World War I expanded to include those killed in other wars.

I think it appropriate to remember, today, the dead of all nations. Those who died fighting against the United States, or in wars in which the US had no part, have still left behind shattered families and scarred communities.