Colleen Cook DC Memorial

In Landscapes of the Sacred there is a story about a man who visits a place that becomes special to him. He was casually walking around DC when he walked up to the Veteran Memorials and started looking at them. There was a list of names and he thought of one person he knew who had joined the army so he decided to look for his old friend's name. Turns out, he had fought and died and the man was completely unaware. The man found his friend, read what it said about him, and it took his breath away. It said "Lt. Peter J. Lantz, born September 17, 1943, died November 23, 1967. Orlando, FL. Panel 31E, row 71." He could not believe what he had read and continued to say, "I traced down the seventy-first line with my fingers and touched the name of my friend. I sat on the ground before it and cried like a baby-grieving over a friend I had let slide into a forgotten past, coming to realize that I had been involved in the Vietnam War after all, much more intimately than I had ever known. The place became sacred for me in a way I had never expected." This really impacted me. I thought about all the friends I have and the ones I used to have and it made me wonder if I wanted to keep some old friendships because I do not want to get hurt the way that man did. But I guess he didn't necessarily get completely hurt because now he has a place he can go to remember his old friend. Reading this did encourage me to talk to old friends so I don't lose touch in their lives.