At the State Capitol during today’s Bugfest festival some kids were clambering up the war memorial to get a better look at one of the exhibits. A dour, overweight man walked up to the monument and commanded them to come down.

“Its disrespectful,” he scolded as the kids meekly climbed down.

As I thought about the men and women the monument was honoring, I knew the man had it wrong. These brave souls wouldn’t mind kids playing on the monument. In fact, they would love to watch them play. So many of them were just kids themselves when they died, and so many left their own kids without a father or mother that the last thing they would want is for someone to take a kid’s fun away. And what could make a better monument to peace than a child’s laughter?

I paused a moment for those fellow veterans, sadly shook my head, and then chased my cackling, gleeful children for all it was worth.