Memorial Day Salute

Today is Memorial day. It's the 3-day weekend we all get to enjoy in late May and is the only holiday working folks get since Winter and the next holiday will be Independance Day. Since I live a block from the Wisconsin River, everyone is out boating, fishing, etc. But, I sit here recovering from my most recent battle with the crud and want to say something about Memorial Day.

In history, it was said that memorial day dates back as far as the civil war. That time, however, was not recognized as a national holiday and was just in Feburary (if memory serves). It wasn't until the 20th century that memorial day really took off (post WWII). Though mother's, wive's, and families had been placing flowers on graves for years before this.

So what does it all mean? In the midst of our secular, "please-me" culture, we make everything in terms of what serves me. WAKE UP CALL! THIS IS ABOUT MEN & WOMEN SERVING OUR COUNTRY IN WAR. Some came home to cheers and ticker-tape parades. Some came home to a pelting of rotten veggies.

Today, I choose to remember men and women that lost their lives so that I may have my freedom to do what I like, to worship how I like, and to choose who and what I want to be. To the unknown soldier...thank you.

Attention Vietnam Vets:
I know that you fought in a war that you didn't want to be in. In a situation that wasn't even a war, but a police action. Your fellow countrymen whose freedom you protected, decided to welcome you home with jeers, taunts and veggies. What you experienced was not fair. You did your duty and you were not rewarded, respected, or remembered. I wait for the time that I may experience the wall in D.C. Not because, I was there...but because I want to pay my respects to a generation of soldiers who got no respect.

So as everyone finishes up their BBQ, spends time with their families, and entertains themselves before a short work week...I choose to go pay my respects to the graves of soldiers in my town. They are easily picked out today. They are the one with a family surrounding them, a widow tending to it's care and where orphans are crying at the face of the dead.

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