Arlington National Cemetery

Visiting Arlington National Cemetery was somewhat of a bizarre experience for me. With the cold rain beating down on my face, I meandered through the winding walkways that led me to the several tombstones, each displaying a name of a lost war veteran. The biggest emotional response I felt was when I witnessed a group of about four people huddling together, arms around each other, gazing down at a tombstone. They stared blankly ahead as one of the men they were with slowly knelt down to place a bouquet of flowers by the grave. This image seemed like the the epitome of grief and the classical picture that comes to my mind when I think of mourning. It struck me that this type of intense emotion was essentially on display for all passersby, but that's obviously unavoidable at a national cemetery on Veteran's Day. I also felt strong emotions when I saw men and women in uniform walking around the grave sites. I felt a certain strong feeling of gratitude that made me want to personally go up to them and sincerely thank them. However, being shy and respecting their privacy of course I did not.

I always feel like in times of public or general grief, people tend to come together and forget about any differences that may separate groups of people. I definitely felt this concept in practice during my visit to the cemetery. It was somewhat understood what everyone was experiencing and for some reason I felt closer to people, acknowledging with a head nod or smile, those in uniform or those who were visibly upset. When something effects everyone in one place, there is a sense of unity that I have always experienced and this included my experiences at Arlington.