At the Normandy Beaches we decided to dedicate our time to the American graves. Of course it also had a monument and a nice visitor’s center to go with it. In the visitors center we watched a video and read a few of the stories of some of the young men who died in WWII. Have to say that while I was watching this movie and walking down to the beach I was thinking:
"So many French people in that video were so grateful to the Americans. So many of them viewed us all as heros. I wonder just how many of those men were really in the army to help people, and to protect their homeland. I wonder just how many people realize that just like in the American Revolution; we didn't fight until the last minute. We didn't join in on the fight in WWII until after there was a threat to us. Is it that our government was very self-centered and uncaring? Was it that the Great Depression made us focus inwards rather than outwards? Would it have helped end the Great Depression sooner if we had joined in earlier? No way to tell with that one."
While walking along the beach and staring out at the waves I started wondering, "I wonder how many people know that many of those young men that died were drafted. I wonder how easy it would've been for a man who didn't want to fight to get a position in the army where he didn't have to."
After we'd walked back up to the grave sites Ahmee and Poppy started walking between the rows and rows of white crosses (also a few Star of Davids) and looking at the names. At this point I was thinking: "I'm not walking on that. I refuse to walk between those crosses. It feels wrong to walk over the men who're supposed to get respect." I looked around at all of the crosses and thought, "If everyone in Southwestern High School were to join the army and fight and die, would we all be heros? Doesn't it take the persons beliefs to make them a hero? Doesn't their effort to promote good make them a hero? How many of the men here were truly fighting for a heroic cause?"
I finally reached a conclusion: "They died in a battle that changed the course of history. Even if they as individuals didn't go into this with the heroic initiative, the good that came out of their sacrifice makes them heros."We left in a hurry and got back on the road.
I had another translation moment just before we reached our b&b for the night. I desperately needed to go to the restroom. I asked a grocery woman if they had one there (in French) and she told me (in French) to go to a Champions that was just down the street. Sure enough, there was a Champions that had a restroom. Getting kinda good at the make-shift translations.
The place we stopped at for the night was very "ghetto", the name of the town was Dreaux. When we walked up there was a funny smell. The carpet in our room wasn't nailed down. The people outside and above us were playing loud music and talking loudly. I really enjoyed it. I don't think that that town was one of the most depressing we'd been to (Ahmee thought so). A plus side to our hotel was that the bathroom we had was huge, and so was the room. Unfortunately I sprayed the entire bathroom with removable shower head (couldn't figure out how to turn it on and when I did I got excited and flipped it on without aiming the nozzle).
Poppy and I spent several hours trying to figure out how to get pictures on the computer. Eventually we got it on and then I was able to go to bed.
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