The Few. The Proud. The Postmodern.

Yesterday evening I was driving home when I saw police lights at the intersection up ahead. I figured there had been an accident on the main road, so I turned down a side-street, only to realize that in fact, Lubbock had been temporarily shut down for the Christmas Parade. I decided to park in front of a local business to watch the illuminated floats, which included an array of pickup trucks and muscle cars coated with Christmas lights.

After a while, the profile of the parade participants started to shift from local businesses and church groups to military vehicles and Marines. Their uniforms, in this context, reminded me of toy soldiers and nutcrackers. This photograph, which I stole from the internet, is a good illustration of what was going on in my brain:

The vehicles had banners on the sides that read "Toys for Tots", and the Marines were cheerfully collecting presents from people in the crowd. I thought, "Oh, that's nice." But then, I saw something that made me wonder if someone had spiked the eggnog at the Marines' Public Relations Department office party. As is customary in Christmas Parades, the final float featured a guy dressed as Santa Claus, who sat in a big chair and waved to the crowds. This was all very expected, as were the assortment of elves, toys and illuminated candy canes that surrounded him. As the float rolled past, however, I started to make out other figures on the flatbed, positioned across from Santa. As it was dark, it took me a moment to identify them as cardboard cutouts of this photograph:

So, Santa Claus is on Iwo Jima? The Marines have just taken the North Pole? Do acts of war qualify as naughty or nice? So many questions.