A Brief Moment of Silence

I had a little bit of a jolt of reality this morning. I was brushing my teeth and looked at the TV to see what the current temperature was so that I could plan my outfit for the day. Well, during the morning shows, there is a news, weather and sports ticker that runs across the bottom of the screen. I’m standing there in front of the TV, toothbrush in my mouth and I read “Private Travis Zimmerman … was killed in Baghdad….” My knee jerk reaction was to say (very loudly), “Oh my God,” which probably came out more like “oomgdd” with the toothbrush running in my mouth. Terry just looked at me, but I had to wait until my two minute date with the toothbrush had come to an end before I could finally rinse out my mouth and explain.

Travis Zimmerman was a boy in my high school graduating class. He was really short, but very muscular and a talented wrestler. He was part of a tough crowd, so I didn’t know him very well. I just remember that he was the last person to cross the stage at graduation. During the rehearsal, he did a backflip across the stage and the principal threatened him with some random punishment if he actually performed the same move at graduation. We expected that he wouldn’t, with that threat hanging over his head, but, lo and behold, that day he did a beautiful backflip across the stage to cap off our graduation ceremony. I admired his moxie and self-confidence. And now he’s gone.

It’s not that I was friends with him. I guess it suddenly struck me that with all of the lives lost during this war, it is inevitable that nearly everyone in the US will know someone who was killed in the Middle East before it is over.

I am troubled by his death, but uplifted by the memories that he has left behind. Rest in peace, Travis, and thank you for giving your life in the service of our country.