Let us experiment, or rather let us play a game together. We are going to look at this coming MEMORIAL DAY through a kaleidoscope of memories and imagination. Beware, while we look around, we will be able to handle colors, perspectives, sounds and time.

Through the lense you see a child. He looks real happy. School is over soon, Pools are open and Sunday BBQ's are waiting. He knows Summer is here! Finally he looks forward to freedom from this tough, harsh but-not-so-bad-year-after-all.

Twisting the lense twenty degrees to the right, a mother comes into focus. Her brother never came back from a distant war. She has two boys and a girl. All they know about wars is what they have learned at school. She looks forward to keeping it that way.

Winding thirty degrees to the right a veteran is restless. So many things he would like to let go from the embedded memory. Never the less, part of it was right after all. William McKinley said, "We go to war only to make peace. We never went to war with any other design." They fought for themselves but also for our sake. There is no right or wrong here. A time, a circumstance, a need, a leader.

One hundred and eighty degrees left. A stranger that is not from here. He asks,"Is it an American All souls Day?" He has simular memories too.

Twenty-five degrees more. There stands an Unknown Soldier. He wants to know if it was worth it. What would you tell him? No, no, do not answer before reading the conversation he had from his grave near the White House with poet Billy Rose.

Shake that kaleidoscope! Alot of activity is happening over there. `The queen has been elected,' the parades are coming together nicely and they are almost done with the pre-trial runs for the Indianapolis 500 mile road race.

Days of reflection challenge the conscience of individuals and communities. Remembering our past makes us sure we know who we are, where we come from, and where should we go, if we want to.

Thirty degrees more. The pieces come us one You know these people. Different memories and imagination become as one. It is you. What do you see?