For some reason I have not been able to get Dido's Lament out of my head for weeks now. It is the single most profound piece of music that I have ever heard and I am haunted by it. 

Last weekend, Joe and I were rewatching "Band of Brothers" for the umpteenth time. I love this series, it makes me proud to be an American and it makes me proud that my father fought for the world's freedom in World War II. It is so difficult to watch...on more than one occasion I have turned away from this episode because it is so unbelievably painful. However, on this viewing I was able to handle Nixon's return to the work camp. Although I had seen this before, it was only this past week that I realized that Dido's Lament was playing. 

I am a Jew. Remotely, ethnically and not in religious practice. My great-great grandparents left Dresden as Jews and arrived in Osawatomie, Kansas as Lutherans, minus one syllable to their last name. I do not judge them. The rest of my family tree is full of bog-standard evangelical Protestants with the occasional Catholic thrown in and some Quakers present for good measure (probably diluted by the 2nd Great Awakening). I am an Episcopalian by choice and with much enthusiasm.

I cannot possibly make an easy transition from my feelings about what happened to Easy Company at Landsburg to the horrific event in my hometown of Wichita yesterday. Please view the first video for context and the second for detail. 

Remember me, and do not forget my death. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUdr4OOOJCo&feature=PlayList&p=E82B1D3D5F2411D1&index=5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnzXbx97_UI