Memorial Day 2012

Welcome to the unofficial beginning of summer everybody.  Memorial Day is the first real weekend throughout the year that people take off of work, go on vacation, and party.  This is all good, and lots of fun, but does anyone remember what this special holiday weekend is about?  Beer, swimming, boardwalks?  Wrong.  It is about honoring the men and women serving in the military or the veterans who have moved on in their lives?  Nope, wrong again.  You can pay tribute at some speech, sure, but that should be where it ends.  Memorial Day isn't about those serving or served, it is about those who served and never made it home.

This week's rant has a little more of a somber tone because this is a topic that gets me fired up each and every year.  I just want you to think about it, Veteran's Day...what does that sound like?  It sounds to me like a day to salute the military who are serving and have once served, yes?  Memorial Day...how about that?  It doesn't sound like a day to salute the young PFC who is six days in service.  Unless of course the PFC was killed.  Memorial Day is a day to honor the dead, and we all should salute to their sacrifices.  Those men and women who went ahead to fight and never again saw our country with the own eyes.  Those boys and girls who kissed their parents and friends goodbye, saying "I'll be back soon guys," and that was the last conversation they ever had with them.  Imagine that if you even can.  I don't think any of us can fully imagine a loss of this magnitude unless you have been through it yourself. 

I have seen people buried, I have seen Marines dressed in their best, trying to hold back tears.  I have seen flags handed to mothers who were laying their sons down.  I have an issue with this being a free weekend and no one remembers, or even cares what it is all about.  This holiday is bigger than any of us deserve because we are still able to read, write, talk, drink beer, watch baseball, and whatever else the dead can't.  With that being said, don't wish me a "Happy" Memorial Day.  This is a depressing day in my opinion, and I have no want to be wished anything "happy" when we should be paying our respects.  If you have ignored everything else I have written, listen to this one.  You don't have to stop having a good time, just remember why it is you have been given a three day weekend, and remember who gave it to you.


RIP to my brothers and sisters in arms who have died, are presently dying, and will die from this day on.