Our destinations today, as varied as they were, all had one major connection. They were designed to make you think. Between the World War II Memorial, Washington Monument, Holocaust Museum, and the Pentagon Memorial, seeing all the names of people who have died, really affected me. Seeing the exhibits at the Holocaust Museum and Memorial nearly brought me to tears, seeing the way they treated the people they considered the enemy-- Roma, Homosexuals, anybody they considered unclean; even going so far as the mentally and physically handicapped. They killed off people in asylums, some as young as 3 or 4 and used them for scientific experimentation. And my day of thinking continued at much the same pace as it started. Many of the soldiers at Iwo Jima were barely legal adults. Boys whose ages ranged from 17 to some as old as their 30’s fought for our country and gave their lives so we could live ours in freedom. It really opens my eyes seeing the sheer number of the people who have given their lives, their futures, to protect this beautiful country we call home.

– Becky

Today I was at the Marine Corps Memorial (Iwo Jima). I noticed that some people were fooling around and that they didn’t realize what it meant. I thought, why would anyone fool around when there are the people who fought for this country, real people like you and me. The memorial means so much to me because I really knew what the Marines actually did for us. When I saw the memorial I stood there for a while and just looked up at the six people memorialized in the statue. I think it was the most amazing thing to see this powerful memorial--it was like a punch in the chest. In my mind I thought “Damn, I am so lucky to be in this country and be free.” I wish I could have told everyone to not fool around and respect this memorial that meant so much to me and many others.



-- Matt