Lincoln Discussion Symposium

Many thanks to Bill Binzel for sending these wonderful photos. Bill writes:

"These were taken this morning (December 15th) while Lisa and I joined with tens of thousands of other volunteers to place wreaths on the graves of 245,000 veterans. It is always an impressive sight, as was the massive number of people who came out on a rainy and soggy Saturday morning to be a part of Wreaths Across America."

Wow, that is an impressive sight!

Awesome!

Great pictures! Thank you.

At Christmas in 2009, my nine-year-old grandson was a Scout and participated in this wonderful Wreaths Across America program at Arlington National Cemetery. Coming from the military side of my family, he has always had a deep respect for those in uniform, but this event ended up having special meaning for him.

In May of 2009, a good friend of his (then 14 and sort of an "older brother" type) had been murdered because he refused to take part in a gang fight. He was not in either gang, but had friends in both of them and would not take sides. His name was Christopher Jones, and he had even switched schools to try and get away from the situation. He was also the kid who made friends with those who had special needs, tried to stop the bullying, pushed the wheelchairs, etc. Chris's funeral started at 10 am on June 3, 2009, the exact time that I held my mother's hand as she passed away. We always told Aaron that GG had gone to help Chris in heaven. At the later trials, Aaron was asked to send a victims' statement to the courts, and he wrote it himself.

Back to Arlington: In the process of laying wreaths with his mother's help, they came upon a tombstone for a Pvt. Christopher Jones and Aaron stopped dead in his tracks and just stared at the marker. His mom (my daughter) explained that it was another Christopher Jones and that Aaron had been to his grave, but Aaron insisted on staying for a few more minutes. We don't know whether he said a prayer or just remembered his friend with the same name, but two Christopher Joneses were honored that day in December 2009.