Memorial Day 2010: Only A Few Words

I hear many criticisms, more each year it seems, in regards to how Americans observe Memorial Day. More precisely, how Americans inappropriately observe Memorial Day. I hear that it has become just another holiday of personal gratification, that all we care about is mindless entertainment in the form of boating, beer and barbeques, of concerts and camping. I understand how these activities may seem, at first glance, cavalier, insensitive or even disrespectful to those brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice. I do. I would like every American to attend a Memorial Day service, to fly the flag or even to take one single, simple moment of silence and prayer to remember the fallen. I would. And I believe more do so than most of us may think, that more give thought, give a moment of remembrance than we think, that more, far more, have been touched personally in some manner to those sacrifices and honor them in their hearts.

And what of those seemingly hedonistic activities, the worship of the three day weekend, the time for family, friends, and downright silly fun? What of it? Well, isn’t that a manifestation of our freedom? Isn’t that what “they” would want us to do? Isn’t that what “they” would do?

Perhaps we are not so shallow, so self-centered. Perhaps not. We remember, we memorialize in our own way, and we live, live as we have been given the gift to live by those that gave all.