Remembrance, gravity, loyalty

"Something on your mind?"

"As a Jedi, we were trained to be keepers of the peace, not soldiers. But all I’ve been since I was a padawan is a soldier."

"Well, I've known no other way. Gives us clones all a mixed feeling about the war. Many people wish it never happened. But without it, we clones wouldn’t exist."

"Well then, perhaps some good has come from all of it. The Republic couldn’t have asked for better soldiers, nor I a better friend."

~

"Rex, what’s happening?"

"Stay back! Find him. Find him. Fives. Find him! Fives!"

~

"Alright, we know Ahsoka Tano is on board. She’s been marked for termination by order sixty-six. Under this directive, any and all Jedi leadership must be executed for treason against the Republic. Any soldier that does not comply with the order will also be executed for treason. Understood?"

~

"Rex? Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, kid. I’m okay. I’m sorry for what happened earlier. I almost killed you."

"How widespread is this?"

"Ahsoka, it’s all of us. The entire Grand Army of the Republic has been ordered to hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights."

~

"So what do we do? Fight our way to the shuttle?"

"There are too many. Besides, I don’t want to hurt them."

"I hate to tell you this, but they don’t care. This ship is going down, and those soldiers, my brothers, are willing to die and take you and me along with them."

"You're a good soldier, Rex. So is every one of those men down there. They may be willing to die, but I am not the one that is going to kill them."

~

I am not from a military family, despite both my grandfathers fought in World War II and one of them went back as a decorated veteran with a glass eye, which, for us kids, was more oddity than pride.

However, in these years, I learned to appreciate the deep significance that this day, Memorial Day, instills to many in the United States.

I am not sure I do understand, completely.

My foreigner perspective is, well, foreign.

But, I feel that these touching dialogues fit its meaning properly.

Remembrance, gravity, loyalty.

To serve.

To believe.

To be a soldier.

[Photo: commemorating this heartbreaking scene with a glorious pin by @thescevolitanostore]