Kickass and mem day message to Michael and Jim

Kickass, the doorstop dog, steps aside this Memorial Day, as the keeper messages the two Michigan pals who died on the Korean mountain-top I & R observation post that had just been vacated by the keeper’s squad:  So, Michael and Jim, as the adage essential to war’s universal popularity has it—“Better you than me,” and acknowledging that war makes as much sense as dealing with a vicious adult dog fight by drowning the puppies, I am left feeling an obligation to summarize some of what you missed by dying so young.  Love!  You missed the love of family and friends and of someone special who stole your heart and shared the joys of children and grandchildren. You missed the satisfaction of personal accomplishment, the seemingly endless years of simply having fun, and you missed the easing up that comes with old age when it all begins to wind down and you are left to marvel at what a joyous ride it is and was.  In the end, the countless symbolic grave-yard crosses and today’s brief acknowledgement of your existence and death becomes the ultimate insult.  There is no way to explain that or to apologize for it.  That’s just the way we are, Michael and Jim, and if you had not been killed you would be a part of it.

So, RIP?  Hell no! Rise up from your awful graves with your skeletal grins and hollow eyes, and help us see from your point of view the continuing absurdity of celebrating all that you missed as we helplessly accept your inevitable future replacements waiting in ghostly formations.