Mood:
hug meTopic: "Hawkeye, Redux"(7)
Sometimes, Frodo remembers why he is. Station KIMT in Mason City, Iowa provided him with that lesson this evening, when they broadcast a few short seconds of the funeral service for Jon Tumilson. Tumilson was one of the 30 US SEALS who died when his helicopter was shot down by a Taliban ignoramus with an RPG.
Tumilson's hometown friend was on his way to the podium to eulogize his friend when another of Tumlinson's friends, whom he had called his "son," followed him to the coffin and laid down. His name? Hawkeye, and he is a Labrador Retriever.
Does "Grey Friars Bobby" mean anything to you, dear reader? How about Col. Henry Blake, he who mouthed the words to another Hawkeye about how young men die in war and how doctors are powerless to prevent those wars. The thoughts in Frodo's mind are awash with the tears of those who watched a Labrador Retriever take up his post, because that is what he was supposed to do.
Well, what about us? What are we supposed to do? Are we to merely pat the head of a good dog, and go on about our business? Are we going to make a movie about a small-town boy whom Kevin Bacon escorts all the way to his funeral, as in "Taking Chance", in someplace like Iowa, or Wyoming? Or do we merely change channels with our remote control?
Frodo has no idea about the make-up of Jon Tumilson, but he can surely provide an answer as to who it was that truly loved him. If only he could be so sure that his loss would be worth the cost, to us all.
