During a break in the rain this morning, I wandered through the California Vietnam War Memorial in Sacramento’s Capitol Park.

I was startled by the quiet intensity of this young man, who was doing nothing more than sitting on a bench in the center of the Memorial, looking thoughtful.

He was in military garb, and it had just been raining, so it was hard to distinguish the rain drops falling from his forehead from sweat.

Maybe he had just been working.

Or fighting?

Maybe he sat there to rest?

He looked like he had lost someone.

A friend?

Himself?

His lithe, taught frame reminded me of all young men eighteen years old, even of myself at that age. Casual, ordinary beauty we all take for granted, until it’s gone.

So many young men lost in Vietnam.

So many young men lost in all wars.

THE NAMES ON THE MEMORIAL WON’T ALL FIT IN ONE PHOTO