Aloha Dan Inouye! Remembering a fallen Soldier – By Cliff Rockefellow
NOTE: I HAVE NEVER WRITTEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS REGARDING ANY POLITICIAN. You might find this “junk” but you might not. My thoughts follow.
Aloha, Dan Inouye. With your even keel, your Robert Mitchum voice (in my opinion) and your steady facial expressions (free of quirks – you had nothing to hide) were a Medal of Honor recipient and a United States Senator from Hawaii and president pro-tem of our Senate. Few in our Senate or Congress have earned my respect (in fact of the populace in general!) but you earned ALL of mine. Your were my favorite, bar none. We saw a lot of you, heard a lot from you, learned a lot from you and I, for one, am glad we did. I appreciated every word I ever heard from you and you certainly always held my respect and attention.
You will have TWO funeral services; one at the National Cemetery on Friday and other at the National Cemetery of the Pacific (at Punchbowl) on Sunday (in Hawaii). Afterwards you will be laid to rest in a place of your family’s (not your government’s) choosing. probably in Hawaii I would think.
Even after your burial, your legacy – your multitude of ideas, achievements, strength of steel, unwavering commitment to family and country, your honest-to God heroism, and your undying service along with a plethora of positive memories shall remain here, with US – the people, to name a few things you leave behind.
I cannot begin to even pretend to know all the good you brought to us, that you GAVE to us. I do know that you gave all of YOURSELF to us – one can’t do more than that – and for that I thank you and God. You were a blessing and that will be your legacy.
Many may, and many may not – Republican and Democrat alike – share my point of view, but no one can deny that you changed the world. How many of us can make the claim, on our dying day, that we changed the human condition and the world during our lifetime(s)?
Farewell and Aloha, Senator! I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You shall be missed, but only in person – what you left us will always remain.
I salute you!