"Softly Call the Muster..."

While I was originally going to post today about a gay marriage update and a curious encounter I had with a washer and dryer, something else came up that has preempted them both.
Today is April 21, and thus is Aggie Muster, the most hallowed of all Texas A&M traditions. What is Muster you ask? Well I have decided to share this great tradition with you, so sit back and be awed what Aggies do for each other. Most of you have only heard of Texas A&M in two ways (if you dont count me as a third). From watching A&M play football on TV, and from the Bonfire tragedy that occured in 1999. In fact when people from outside of Texas hear where I went to college their first question always seems to deal with the tragedy. (A new memorial to it opened just this past year)
But despite what may have been relayed, Bonfire was not the greatest of Aggie tradtions. That crown is held by one of the oldest..Aggie Muster. Aggie Muster began in 1883 and in the beginning was a sort of homecoming for Aggies. The tag line that always has gone along with the tradition was that wherever in the world two Aggies were within 100 miles of each other they should come together to live over again their college days, the victories and defeats won and lost upon the drill field (Texas A&M was a military school until the 1960s) and in the classroom. It's now held every April 21.
In World War II Aggie Muster gained national attention when on April 21, 1942 twenty five men led by General George Moore '08 (thats 1908) held Muster on the island of Corregidor while it was under siege by the Japanese. Today Aggie Muster is celebrated all over the country and indeed the world (I got invited to a ceremony in Waterloo). But the Muster held on campus is truly one of the most awe inspiring events I've ever attended in my life, and even imagining it causes me intense emotions.
You see back in the original Musters there would be a roll call for the alumni to see who had attended that year's event. Today that has changed. There still exists a roll call, but today it is a roll call for the absent. At the main Muster ceremony Aggies gather that evening at Reed Arena after reliving their stories. All the lights are turned out save for a spot light on the podium and a large white candle sitting in front of it. Members of the Aggie Muster Committee then read a roll call containing the names of all those Aggies, student and alumni, who have passed away the previous year. Because these Aggies cannot answer for themselves any longer, a representative from their family and anyone in the audience who knew them then answers here as the family member lights a candle in that persons honor. At the beginning of the ceremony it is dark inside the arena, but by the time all the names have been called it is brightly lit. The ceremony concludes with a 21 gun salute given by the Ross Volunteers (honor guard to the Governor of Texas) and a playing of Silver Taps.
This will be the first year since I became an Aggie that I will not be at that ceremony. Last year I made the drive to College Station so that I could answer the roll call for a friend. It gives me pride to know that when I pass away, thousands of Aggies who never knew me will honor my life in such a way.
"Softly call the Muster, let your comrades answer 'here'..." (See below)