State Capitol on Memorial Day

BATON ROUGE — I walked out of the State Capitol about 5 p.m. on June 3. Both the House and Senate were busy inside debating bills.  Normally at that time, employees would be leaving the Capitol, and cars would be noisily pulling out of the parking lot.  

But outside, I was completely alone. It was so calm and eerily quiet.  I looked out from the steps of the Capitol toward the garden and there were thousands and thousands of flags — one for each of the Louisianians who died for our country from the Revolutionary War until now!  

I walked up to the flags and the wind blew. All I could hear were the birds singing and the wind rustling through the flags.  It was a rare moment, a moment to reflect.  All those young men…think of what they did for us.

— Woody Jenkins, editor, Central City News