Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Veterans Day 2009













The facade of Memorial Amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetery

Today is, of course, Veterans Day. As I write this, a wreath-laying ceremony is taking place at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery, which will be followed by a ceremony in the Memorial Amphitheater.

The Amphitheater has become my favorite spot when I visit the cemetery, in large part because it has this statement inscribed inside the apse:

"When we assumed the soldier we did not lay aside the citizen"


It is a quote from George Washington's June 26, 1775, letter to the Provincial Congress, and it perfectly expresses the proper place of the military in a democratic society. I think it is an impeccably American sentiment to inscribe in a memorial to our nation's veterans.

1 comment:

Jenn Gustetic said...

Hey! I tried to find an email for you, but couldn't so here it is in comment form :)

I am the GovLoop Blog Outreach coordinator and I just wanted to send you a quick note asking if you’d consider cross-posting your awesome blog postings on GovLoop. GovLoop is a government focused online community that was bourne out of the Department of Homeland Security and has grown to become a community of more than 20,000 people. American bloggers like Gwynne Kostin and Steve Radick are already cross-posting with a quick copy-paste, significantly increasing their readership and exposure and getting them in front of additional smart government innovators.

FYI, pulling from RSS feeds currently isn't possible with our technology but is on our roadmap as we evolve. We totally understand that it is kind of a pain to copy/paste but we hope you take the minute to post and hopefully access some great discussions with our large community of federal folks. Keep writing phenomenal postings and we really hope to see them on our site soon. Our community would love your insightful and thought provoking writing!

Keep being awesome and let me know if you have any questions!

Jenn Gustetic
@jenngustetic
www.govloop.com