I am at work today in corporate America. Like most Mondays, the dreariness of the office borders on the comedic. It's almost as if I might be able to look across the walls of cubicles and actually see the Wachowski brothers filming the next Matrix film or something.
However, as I am floating along in my stream of half consciousness, calmly updating Salesforce in order to keep track of the multiple ongoing initiatives in the world of corporate finance, I hear a co-worker wondering why the Flag is at "Halfway" today. Another co-worker asserts that she hopes it is for all the animals who have drowned at the Duluth Zoo after the flooding from the last week.
As my eyes narrow, I put some text into Google and realize that Marine Corporal Taylor J. Baune is being interred today at Ft. Snelling National Cemetery. Taylor was the 2,000th service member to become KIA in Afghanistan. He was 20 years old, a new husband to his beautiful wife Colleen, a graduate of Andover High School in 2009, and a strong marine who placed himself in harm's way on behalf of his fellow Americans.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2159634/Marine-Taylor-J-Baune-2-000th-American-soldier-killed-Afghanistan.html
Not a day goes by when I don't think about our troops in harm's way. I didn't know Taylor. He was a Marine on active duty, and other than a brief week in Taqaddum in the Fall of 2006, I rarely come into contact with our Marines. But I know what was in his heart. All of us in uniform have it...that love of country. The love for our families, friends and neighbors across Minnesota and the nation.
I was sad to hear about all the zoo animals that died as a result of a random weather event. Bad news is never something to make fun of, regardless of the circumstances. And it certainly doesn't win me any friends to be mean or disrespectful to someone else's cause, regardless of what it is.
However, I would urge all of you who have a chance to read this today to remember Taylor. Take a moment out of your day, regardless of what you're doing, and give thanks for people like him. He was a good husband. A good Son. And he was a great American.
God Bless Taylor. And God Speed.
