“All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

 These are photos that I took during a visit today at Brookwood Military Cemetery. Each photo bearing a tombstone represents a different nation.

“Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to.”
― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

I walked the nearly 5,800 grave sites and thought about sacrifice. I still do. I think about today. I think about humans through time who will never be remembered like this at all: those wearing uniforms, those in civilian clothes. I reflect heavily on the humans who are entrusted with making big decisions. 

“I was what you are, you will be what I am.”
― Cemetery Sign, Ortelle

And it’s not found at Brookwood, but I wanted to mention that just off to the side and in front of the Imperial War Museum in London, there is a Tibetan Peace Garden. Our inner cynic might see it as some sort of paltry mea culpa—but at the same time, my inner optimist sees importance in its very presence. So I don’t want to end this post showing only the war dead. The global community is so much larger. And apart from that, I don’t really know what else to say.

“Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge.”
― Khalil Gibran