The Weight of the Vietnam Memorial

When I first visited the Vietnam Memorial as a child, I saw the weight being carried by those reading the 58,276 names, by the adults staring, lost in time. They were standing in Washington D.C., but their thoughts were somewhere else. My Dad was one of these adults, baring a solemn face, weighed down by the overwhelming gravity of the reflective wall before him.

It was 1989. The controversial “Like a Prayer,” and “Blame it on the Rain,” were dominating cassette tape sales. I had my very first pair of Jams shorts. We were on a family vacation to Washington D.C. It was July and I was visiting the President, or at least that is how it felt. I was from a town of 3,000 and this was the big city of Washington, D.C.

It was hotter than 90 degrees and I remember as we sat on a bench waiting for my Dad, we purchased our first ever bottled water. My parents gave my sister, brother and I each our own bottle. They didn’t even make us share. Of all things to buy on vacation, water had never been considered until this trip.

I’m not sure exactly what my Dad was thinking as he stood gazing. Maybe he was seeing himself in some of those names. Maybe he was thinking of their families. Maybe he was remembering when he enlisted in the Army to go to Vietnam, and now he was in D.C. with his family. Maybe he was remembering his friends in Vietnam.

We waited, not patiently exactly, but we gave my Dad time to search, read, and remember. In that long, hot afternoon, my Dad taught us the price of the Vietnam War using only silence. The Weight of the Vietnam Memorial

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The reflective wall of the Vietnam Memorial, Washington, D.C. Malll