A meaningful moment

At the Vietnam War Memorial, I had an interesting experience. As I was making the rubbing of my father's name, a group of young people asked me how I knew where my dad's name is on the expansive memorial. I explained about the book of names and the list of the death dates on the back of the piece of paper I was using for the rubbing. This simple question quickly turned into a list of questions :) I'm no expert on this memorial - when it was completed, the artist, etc. But I learned from these fellow tourists that there is still an interest in the people who experienced loss as a result of the Vietnam War. They wanted to know how old I was when my dad died. They wanted to know about my mom and what she did after that. They wanted to know about my grandparents and what there views were on the war after they lost my dad. They wanted to know if I am angry. We continued to visit for about 10 more minutes. I think we were greatly affected by each other. Imagine...strangers loving each other. What a meaningful thing to happen in the midst of a hallowed place.