I went to see the replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I saw the names, pictures, poems, flowers, medals and notes lying at the base of the wall. I saw people rubbing names on paper. I saw people console each other as they looked at one particular name.

It was a very overwhelming experience to see the wall with the thousands of names on it. I was a young teenager during the Vietnam War. I heard things about it and saw some images on the nightly news. I knew there was a draft and my parents were nervous for my older brothers. I even heard about someone in my hometown who lost a brother in Vietnam, but now standing in front of the wall, I couldn’t remember his name. I had to admit to myself that I wasn’t paying attention back when I was a kid. And, not to let myself off the hook, but I don’t remember anyone ever telling me to pay attention to what was happening over in Vietnam.

But when I was standing in front of the memorial, I couldn’t help but look at all the names on the wall and somehow see the individuals behind the names. I don’t exactly know why it affected me so much, but it did. I realized those names were people who were probably a lot like me and other people I know. Seeing all the families, friends, pictures and mementos in front of wall, I realized that those people had lives that they gave up for the rest of us.

People of all ages came to see the wall. Some knew exactly where to go to find a name, others had to ask for assistance to find one. Then there were others, like me, who didn’t recognize any of the names, but read as many of them as they could.

There were young children with their parents and grandparents looking at the memorial. One mother pointed out the wall to her two young daughters and said, “See all those letters etched up there, those are names. They are names of people who died in the Vietnam War.” I first wondered if the girls and the rest of the kids looking at the wall understood what their parents were asking them to see. But then I realized that it wasn’t so much what they wanted them to understand, but maybe they were asking them to pay attention to what they were looking at and then remember it.

The Vietnam Memorial is very powerful, and like all memorials it asks for our undivided attention. That’s what memorials do. They ask us to pay tribute to and remember the men and women who gave their lives.

But memorials do more than remind us of what happened in the past. They also remind us to pay attention to what is happening in present for the benefit of the future.