Commentary
Rescuing the Messboy
From Gazette editions of May, 1934:
Memorial Day brings many great tradi tions. Yesterday we watched some of the tributes on the television and I was struck by the footage of visitors to The Wall in Washington, D.C., to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in Viet Nam. As most people know, the memorial is a triangular shaped wall that is inscribed with the names of every person who died in Viet Nam. It is simple and yet so stirring. And for those who knew someone on that wall, it carries far deeper meaning.
Memorial Day
On May 28 Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard and Hospice & Palliative Care of Cape Cod (H& PCCC) announced an alliance that will bring expanded hospice services to Martha’s Vineyard while preserving the traditional role of Hospice. This letter is an effort to set forth my personal feelings and the board’s rationale for this innovative undertaking.
One morning in 1934, when Nelson Bryant was eleven years old, his father bought him a twenty-gauge shotgun. He took it out to the marsh at the head of a great salt pond near his house to look for birds. The landscape around him had changed little in the past five thousand years. He could turn in every direction and see just one house. Before long, a black duck flew by, and he took aim, pulled the trigger, and watched the bird drop to the ground. It was Christmas Day.
It was a mixed group that gathered in the Polly Hill Arboretum Saturday night about 5:30 p.m. From this aging grandmother to a six-month-old baby boy, and in between stood six lovely teenaged girls in their colorful prom gowns, contrasting shawls, wrist corsages, makeup, and recently done hair styles. As they stood together in front of a blooming rhododendron bush, bookended by two handsome young teenaged boys, Sal and Josh, in black tuxedos — one with a forest green vest and the other with a silver vest — they giggled and posed for their pre-prom photographs.