I’ve never seen combat. I’ve never even served in the armed forces. When my father did his time in Vietnam I wasn’t even born; in fact, pretty far from it. Nevertheless, I still think it’s much more important of a holiday than most people recognize.
Though our nation is just a baby compared to some, we’ve been quite blessed. The only two wars fought on our soil were the Revolution (you know, the one where we won the soil) and the Civil War (yeah… we were fighting OURSELVES). We’ve never been subject to invasions, and there’s one pretty good reason for that: we are the military super power in the world, and have been for quite some time.
But this isn’t something that you can buy. It’s not something that a government can force it’s people to create. It’s the men and women of our armed forces that keep our minds free from worry and our borders safe. Even if they never have to see action outside of simulations, the fact that they’re willing and able put their lives on the line to protect our way of life, and human freedoms throughout the world, is a noble thing.
Sometimes I wonder if people really take Memorial Day seriously, though. If not, they should. Happy Memorial Day.
May 28th, 2002 at 10:11 pm
excellent post. i think this is true of a lot of holidays, of course, we tend to get more excited about the getting the day off and so forth (well, i do) and it\’s good to stay focused on the real meaning behind the day off.