I won’t wish you a happy Memorial Day. There’s nothing at all happy about remembering mostly young men and women, who who have sacrificed their lives in the service of this nation. Honoring them is a solemn occasion. I add to their number two students from Jackson State, four students from Kent State, and others who were killed opposing war, whose deaths were covered-up. Their service is equally worthy of honor.
Although I have opposed the wars in my lifetime, I fully believe that while hating the war, we must cherish the warriors. Politicians, and we who elect them, are at fault for criminal wars, not the soldiers.
While some Veterans groups try to use this holiday to focus our attention on them, but this is not their day. We have Veterans Day to honor their service, but let me close with a message for veterans this Memorial Day: Thank you for being good enough at your job that you came back, and in so doing, saved us the pain of honoring your loss.
12 Responses to “On Memorial Day”
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Thanks for remembering the students of Jackson and Kent State.
First let me say I am a veteran. I also have limited mobility. however I am not a "disabled veteran" in quotes because the limited mobility is not service related.
TC posted a video on his Open Thread about one origin of Memorial Day. If you haven't already, go look at it. There were many celebrations held on different days for a long time until they all got woven together into the holiday we have now, but all were about honoring the war dead. And I noticed that after the service described, the participants had a large communal meal together – as we still do – not just on Memorial Day, but also after funerals. I believe that's healthy.
Every year on the eve of Memorial Day, PBS airs a National Memorial Day Concert. I apologize for not posting this sooner, especially because there is no complete video, but there are some selections at
http://www.pbs.org/national-memorial-day-concert/videos/ The substance of the concert to me is the sharing of real stories, and the third and fourth videos in the top line of videos on that link are about two of this year's three stories. These videos differ from the concert itself, where the first person stories are presented by actors, in a very personal, almost intimate way, but they do tell the stories
I have always felt that, since Memorial Day is about the dead, save your greetings to me until Veterans' Day. However, I can't help feeling like a grinch with that attitude when the living whose stories are told have suffered such intense, life-changing disabilities. These stories should and must be told, and these veterans honored. Whether you have lost loved ones yourself – to death or disability – or simply share in our collective national loss, I have always found these stories to be a fitting tribute, and this year's are no exception.
And there's no reason you can't also enjoy the communal barbecue afterwards.
I watched the concert as I do every year. The brave men and women who had their stories told were breaking my heart.
Thank you for being good enough at your job that you came back, and in so doing, saved us the pain of honoring your loss. 😉
Kent State is burned in my memory. Jackson State is also! RIP to all of them!
Memorial Day is one that I don’t “celebrate” either. I have too many friends that lost their lives to senseless wars that have never made sense. But I will celebrate their short lived!
Memorial Day remembered!
Pres. Abraham Lincoln undoubtedly had a way with words …
http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/bixby.htm
http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1864lincoln-bixby.asp
I wonder what he would say, if he learned that his party resurrected the civil war.
Memorial Day is not a happy day at all. Have you noticed that most people either don't know or don't care why we have this day? Now it is a day for picnics, cook outs, and swimming parties. We decorate graves here on Memorial day, and it is never a happy day for me, I have lost too many of my family.
To all the fallen, and to their families, peace be with you.
"Although I have opposed the wars in my lifetime, I fully believe that while hating the war, we must cherish the warriors. Politicians, and we who elect them, are at fault for criminal wars, not the soldiers."
I do so agree – it is unconscionable that governments the world over send soldiers off to fight wars and then neglect those who are able to return, and also neglect to provide for the families of the fallen.
It was only yesterday that my dearest friend and I were discussing Australia's attitude to the conscripted lads who were sent off to fight in the Vietnam War, and on their returned they were horridly shunned and badly treated by people. I said indignantly that the people who were treating conscripted soldiers so badly should be ashamed of themselves – and should have been directing their ire at the politicians who were responsible, and she agreed. The trouble is that people don't seem to bother to think with all their brain cells at once do they? They so often only get from A-B not A-B-C-D-E-F instead.
It has been WhitSun over here, aka a holiday in celebration of Pentecost, which is often when people were accepted into the church and wore white (hence the Whit in WhitSun).
Too many dead. May they all rest in Peace.
Thanks all. Hurried hugs!