Memorial Day: How Are You Honoring Those Who Gave All?
Posted by Raven on May 28th, 2007
As I’ve said in the past here while you’re out celebrating a day off from work, going to the beach or camp or hosting a cookout with family and friends, think about what today really means. We’re very selfish, we Americans. As we carry on with this day off, have we forgotten those who will never experience a cookout or a day on the ocean? I am home today- not up in Maine rejoicing yet another excuse to have a beer or grazing on the beach. No. I am going to the local cemeteries to visit the graves of those who gave ALL, so that I can HAVE my all. At the very least they deserve ONE day out of the many I am living, where I can reflect upon they who are no longer alive. And thank them. One at a time.
What are you doing today to honor the heroes who have been taken from us, forever?
For some contrast- A tale of two Memorial Days.
From today’s WSJ:
Once we knew who and what to honor on Memorial Day: those who had given all their tomorrows, as was said of the men who stormed the beaches of Normandy, for our todays. But in a world saturated with selfhood, where every death is by definition a death in vain, the notion of sacrifice today provokes puzzlement more often than admiration. We support the troops, of course, but we also believe that war, being hell, can easily touch them with an evil no cause for engagement can wash away. And in any case we are more comfortable supporting them as victims than as warriors.
Former football star Pat Tillman and Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham were killed on the same day: April 22, 2004. But as details of his death fitfully emerged from Afghanistan, Tillman has become a metaphor for the current conflict–a victim of fratricide, disillusionment, coverup and possibly conspiracy. By comparison, Dunham, who saved several of his comrades in Iraq by falling on an insurgent’s grenade, is the unknown soldier. The New York Times, which featured Abu Ghraib on its front page for 32 consecutive days, put the story of Dunham’s Medal of Honor on the third page of section B.
This, from John Edwards:
…and this:
Teach has a round up of others who are blogging about Memorial Day…and a post about how the family of a fallen Marine is sharing the meaning of this day.
Ogre has an interesting and very unique thought about today.
May 28th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Memorial Day Monday: One Marine
Today is Memorial Day. A day to remember all those who died in the service of our special country
ARLINGTON, Va. - Just a few years ago, Lance Cpl. Steven Szwydek was a classmate of students at a high school in the mountains of Pennsylvania’s F…
May 28th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
That speech by Edwards is a poor example of how to give any kind of speech–repetitve, no organization, no passion, etc. I’m surprised that he didn’t burst into “Kumbaya.”
And he wants to be President? Puh-leeze!
May 28th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
I stimulated the economy today by buying a new lawnmower at Sears. In truth, I probably stimulated the Chinese economy more than ours, which brings us to the subject of Memorial day.
Instead of visiting places where dead bodies are disposed of in the most expensive manner possible, think about who really benefits from warfare. It isn’t you and me. If we never invaded Iraq, your freedom and mine would probably be more secure than it is now. Our closest allies think we’re nuts. We’ve spent enough money to send every high school senior in America to Harvard. And people who were already quite wealthy became even more wealthy. There are things I like about America, but the aspect of life here that I utterly dispise is the tendency of people to insist that we don’t have any serious problems simply because we don’t have any secret police.
May 29th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
WOMD what the hell are you talking about? Secret police? Are you one of those paranoid fifth dimension people??
May 29th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
I enjoy the fact that I can openly criticize the president without worrying about the midnight rap on the door.