Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Veteran's Day ~ 2008


A Veteran is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America', for an amount of up to, and including, their life. That is HONOR!! There are way too many people in this country who no longer understand what that means!

To all who have served, and to all who are currently serving in our Armed Forces, I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

The above video was filmed and edited by my son (William) for a college project. We scoured the newspapers and the Internet to find something that he felt would be perfect for this creative assignment. He chose our local Veteran's Day parade.

The day: Saturday, November 8, 2008
The time: 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
The Event: City of Orlando Veteran's Day Parade

As he set up his equipment and began to film I was off in my own little world enjoying the parade. I don't think words could possibly do justice to spectrum of emotions that certain sights evoked within me.

The Caparisoned Horse
The Flag Draped "Body"
Those who were POW's
Those who wore the Purple Heart
The Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force were all represented
There were Bands
Floats
Veteran's in Wheel Chairs (who I couldn't help but run up and kiss and say "thank you")

There was so much beauty, so much patriotism, so much to be thankful for!

And then IT happened!

Have you ever witnessed something that was so disturbing, it took all the joy away from what you were currently doing?

In front of me, in this glorious parade were two scantly clad women. All by themselves. They wore leather chaps along with laced up leather tops. Their flesh bulged, uncovered, over their overly tight garments. One, she walked quite normally. The other, well, let's just say the world was spinning around her. As she staggered down the street, with her friend trying desperately to hold her up, my jaw dropped! At about the same time as the shock became evident on everyone's faces, she went crashing to the ground. Right in front of us! Three men, well into their 90's were the first to get to her. It took several men to peel that woman up off of the pavement.

Her eyes.. bloodshot
Her aroma.. reeked of alcohol
Her face.. drawn

How dare she? How dare she tarnish such an event? There were men of honor present; men who had lost their limbs; people who had lost a family member; soldiers who had lost their brothers! There were children there, and families... and I was there with my son.

The police came as did a few EMS workers.... then came the rescue and fire trucks. Before they got there though, an elderly man gave her his chair to sit in, and I gave her a bottled water. It took approximately 15 minutes for this ordeal to be over. I feel she robbed everyone around us of 15 minutes of true joy! Shame on her!!!

The rest of the parade was as spectacular as the beginning. I can't wait to see it again next year.

Elaboration on William's project: He had to interview a random person at the event. Once you've seen his video, I'm sure you'll agree that Fran was PERFECT!!! You don't have to, but if you'd like to give him kudo's, here's a direct link to his YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUbblZB6IKs
Please watch it in High Quality. It was filmed in High Definition and the lower quality doesn't at all do it justice!

Below is a video I found on YouTube. It was a Veteran's Day Parade filmed in 1948 (60 years ago). It's amazing to see the similarities, and the differences, from then to now!


Much Respect and MANY Thank You's to all the Veteran's!!!

8 comments:

That dude Paul said...

A great video indeed. My fave part was the elderly gentleman that was being pushed in his wheelchair at about 1:29. There arent too many of his generation of service members left. Also, I thank you for acknowledging my service.

Have a great night!

Angie ^i^ said...

I loved him too Paul.. that's why I had to run up and give him a mushy kiss on his cheek!! LOL

Thank you again for serving our country, I'm honored to know you!

You have a great night too dear!

Jim said...

Angie that was great. Thanks for sharing it with us. I usually go watch the Veterans Day parade in downtown Atlanta but didn't make it this year so it was great to see the Orlando parade.

Sue said...

That's a terrific video! Your son's a budding film director - he did a super job.

Anonymous said...

Angie! Absolutely great video! I enjoyed the elderly gentleman but I was also impressed with the ROTC group. Our school system no longer has this program. The last years of the program they didn't have the 'respect and disciple' that is required. Out of my high school class we had a large number of young men join the military. They served their country with true honor. Lee was one of those. Lee and John are now both retired but one of our classmates is now a General over a base in Alabama.
Thank you for posting this Veterans Day Remembrance! ~ Ann

Angie ^i^ said...

Jim ~ well Thanksgiving is coming up and I'm sure there's going to be a good parade for you to enjoy (so not all is lost). I'm glad you enjoyed a tiny taste of our parade!

Sue ~ Between filming, editing, and all the other stuff he does that I'm clueless about.. it took well over 15 hours (and what I posted isn't even the final project). Thanks for your encouraging words!!!

Ann ~ That group of kids from the Winter Springs ROTC were amazing!! You only got to see a tiny bit of what they did.. they had a float dedicated to each war! I can't even imagine the number of hours they spent creating everything they did!! I actually called the Principal of that school and the man in charge of the ROTC (Col. Bennett). I told them just how impressed I was (and everyone else was) with their kids. My son is creating a separate video, just for them, show casing their participation in the parade! Col. Bennett is so excited to get copies of this. He told me that the person they use to film their events didn't show up Saturday and that those amazing young people were so disappointed that they didn't have something to commemorate their participation.

Anonymous said...

Angie your son did an outstanding job. It is very professional looking and the ROTC is lucky he was there. I know that the editing of such a task is huge and it is what makes or breaks a project. And this is certainly a huge success! ~ann

Anonymous said...

Excellent video Angie. Sorry, just now getting around to watching it. I couldn't view it the other day. Your son did a great job with it.

Hugs,
Martha