5/27/19 Report - Memorial Day 2019. Burial Flags. Facts. Treasuring.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

The VA Service and Distribution Center (SDC) supplies burial flags to VA facilities and U.S. Post Offices (USPS) throughout the country and around the world.  The flags are then issued directly to funeral directors and families of deceased Veterans.  Burial flags are provided free of charge to the next of kin of honorably discharged Veterans.  Additional information on burial flags and burial benefits is available at the NCA Home Page.

Here is the link to the National Cemetery Administration.  Among other things, it tells you how you can get burial flags, such as the one above, and gravesite markers for veterans.

https://www.cem.va.gov/burial_benefits/burial_flags.asp

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According to a recent poll many people think that Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer. Others think it is the same as veterans day. 

Did you know that the first observances of what we now refer to as 'Memorial Day' were intended to honor those who died in battle during the Civil War. Claiming more lives than any other conflict in U.S. history, the Civil War required the establishment of the nation's first national cemeteries, according to History.com.

Here is a link that will take you to a site that tells many more interesting facts about Memorial Day.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/did-you-know/13-memorial-day-facts-you-didnt-learn-in-school/ss-AAB5KlB?ocid=spartandhp

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I picked up this painted stone a couple days ago when I was taking a walk.  It is obviously nothing special, but it made me think a little.

Painted Stone Recently Found.

I know it was probably painted just a few days or maybe weeks ago - maybe at Easter time, but I wondered what if I didn't pick it up and it was found by someone a hundred years from now?  Would it be valued as a historic artifact if it was found in the year 2119.  I don't think so, but maybe.  How about five hundred years or a thousand years in the future?  Then it might be thought of as something to study,  Would our current age and culture then seem like a lost mystery and something of interest to study?  I really don't know, but I suspect it might.

Even now there are questions.  Was it done by a child?  Was it nothing more than an art project, or was it meant to have another purpose or significance?  

One natural response would be to say, it's a painted stone, and that would be the end of it. But it might have meant a little something more to the person who made it.

It could have had a personal significance, such as these memory stones that I found online.

So, I'll be putting it back.

I once found something similar in the ocean, except it was ornate and made of metal and had an inscription to the deceased.

I'll never know exactly what the painted stone is about, but for some reason I encountered it, in the same way I encounter so many objects along the way.
  
We talk a lot about treasure, but "treasure" can be either a noun or a verb.  As a noun it refers to a concentration of wealth.  As a verb it suggests the act of cherishing.

Different people hunt for different kinds of things.  Some people want to find what ever they can sell for the highest price.  They tend to treasure what is valued highly by others.  Other people like objects that might not be the highest priced, but lead them on a journey or tell a story.

Is there an art to treasuring?  Do some people do it more or better than others?  I suspect so. 

If you study an object, you might learn to appreciate the object more.  You might connect the object to other people or history or yourself in a more meaningful way.  

You can add value to an object by studying it.  The history and provenance can make it more valuable.

An otherwise ordinary object can be turned into a treasure, if you treasure it.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  I suspect it works the other way too.  Where you heart is, there will your treasure be also.

Treasure those that are with you today, and treasure the memories of those who are not.

Thanks to those who fought and died for us.

TreasureGuide@comcast.net