feeling like it really matters....

i happened to be in dc over the weekend when they were setting up
for the concert for valor for the veteran's day celebration.

i knew it was gonna be a big thing when i saw the stage, the massive
generator trucks, trailer after trailer after trailer after trailer, and more
porta potties than i had ever seen.
my gosh, there was a lot to it.

so having seen that, and having one of my sons go down to it,
i was interested in it. more so than i think i normally would have been.

i tuned in a little.
but kept tuning out.

it's one heck of a complicated holiday.

and sometimes i think when things are just offered too simplistically,
well........i just worry about that kinda thing.

i wish we could be more open to the complicated.
i think that would help us out as a country in a very big way.

so i would tune in, be unimpressed, and tune out.
i did tune in at one point to see a vet get honored and i could see how much
it mattered, and i knew that was a great great thing. i was moved for him.
and grateful he had that moment.

so, yeah....even my feelings about it being simplistic were complicated.

i set it all down, figured it didn't matter, that i was being just too in my brain,
and to let it all go.

but i was curious about a couple of things.
i was curious how many people actually did show up -
and i'm curious how they estimate that and how they come up with the final
number. i think all that must be really cool.

and i was curious if anyone thought about the PTSD factor in the show
with all the loud drums and flashing lights.
was it really just me that wondered if that was hard for anyone?
i wondered if that was an outlandish thought.

i was just curious.
was gonna just take a quick google on those things and move on.

but as i did that, i saw an article on why eminem was a bad pick for one of
the line ups.

i stopped and read it.
it was about the violence and hatred towards women in his music.
and the high rate of domestic violence in military families.

and bam.
i was back into the whole 'wow, is this ever complicated' stuff.

and i didn't feel any more that i was too in my head or that i was making
too much of our simplistic approach to so many things.

i wouldn't have a clue how to change anything.
i know that.
but i do have a clue that this needs to be thought about -
that there seems to be a phobia to complicated.
that we want things simple, easy, and with definite right and wrongs,
or with things that we can just ignore.

and that just doesn't lead to growth or health......

and that matters.
and.........in my mind, that would have to be one of the most beautiful
and honest ways to honor the sacrifice we keep talking about with vets -
to become more aware, to strive for growth and health, and to walk our
talk in every way we possibly can.