In Others’ Words: Remembered

I read today’s quote to my husband and asked, “What kind of image do you see with this quote?

His immediate response: “The Iwo Jima Memorial.”

Huh.

Not what I was originally thinking of . . . but then it made sense.

The Battle of Iwo Jima took place during World War II from the middle of February until almost the end of March. One of the first objectives was to capture Mt. Suribachi. On February 23, when the mountain was almost secured, a small American flag was erected on top of the mountain. Later that day, a much larger American flag was raised by five Marines and a Navy corpsman. This event was witnessed by a news photographer — and his picture became a Pulitzer Prize winner.

Of the six soldiers captured in the photograph — and later memorialized in the sculpture — only three survived the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Reading that quote and seeing that image does give me pause . . .

How am I going to live my life today — if all I did today and said today is what I would be remembered for? Not all significant actions are immortalized in bronze, but that doesn’t make them any less valuable.

In Your Words: When you read the quote “Today I shall behave, as if this is the day I shall be remembered” — how does your outlook change? How does your behavior change? Or does it?

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