thedrifter
05-27-06, 08:22 AM
Sent to me from hubby....fontman
Don't the Fallen Deserve at Least a Moment?
By Colbert I. King
The Washington Post
Saturday, May 27, 2006; A25
"Memorial Day Sale! Warehouse Is Stocked and Ready for Your Home";
"Memorial Day SALE plus EXTRA 15% OFF when you use your store card or
pass"; "Memorial Day 1/2
Price Sale on Mattresses!"; "Memorial Day PIANO SALE"; "UNBELIEVABLE!
STOREWIDE SAVINGS JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND!" -- Thursday
newspaper
ads
This cannot be what Maj. Gen. John A. Logan, national commander of the
Grand Army of the Republic, had in mind when he officially proclaimed
Memorial Day on May 5, 1868.
His thought, as best I can tell, was to set aside a day to honor the
war dead. The true meaning of Memorial Day, however, has been overcome by
door-buster sales, backyard
cookouts and the opportunity to get a little extra sleep.
The fallen don't seem to mean much anymore except, perhaps, to veterans
of previous wars and their families, and to the nearly 5,000 mothers
and fathers of men and women in
uniform who have given their all in Iraq. To those parents, please add
surviving brothers and sisters, wives, husbands, children,
grandchildren, cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews
and nieces, neighbors and friends. If these folks happen to gather on
Memorial Day, most likely it won't be to organize a shop-a-rama or
barbecue. For them, Monday will be the
time to remember loved ones who lost their lives serving their country.
The shame is that much of the nation won't be sharing this day of
observance with those families. The shameless will be too busy with other
pressing matters, such as:
· Taylor Hicks, the "American Idol" -- should he have really won out
over Katharine McPhee?
· Rep. William Jefferson from New Orleans! Was he on the take?
· Don't forget Angelina, Brad and the expected baby in Namibia.
Then there's Comcast and the Nats; Libby and the Veep; Pelosi, Hastert
and the FBI; illegal immigrants, the border and the debate; and the
John Allen Muhammad farce in
Rockville. Anything and everything but time to honor to those who have
paid the ultimate price.
It shouldn't be this way.
If ever there was a day when the country should call a timeout on fun
and self-indulgent distractions and devote some serious time to a solemn
observance, it's this Memorial Day.
Goodness knows, enough Americans have given their lives to make it
possible.
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, beginning with the
American Revolution and continuing through the war on terrorism (as of
Sept. 30, 2005), there were 652,696
American battle deaths, including 53,402 in World War I; 291,557 in
World War II; 33,741 in the Korean War; 47,424 in Vietnam; and 147 in
Desert Shield-Desert Storm. Those totals
don't include the other Americans who died in those theaters of war.
That total comes to 14,416. To devote one day to the honor of 667,112
American souls should not be asking
too much. Evidently it is.
Otherwise, why will the malls, auto showrooms and ballparks be open for
business on Memorial Day? Why, on Monday, will sales outnumber memorial
services? But I overreach.
I'm fussing about not having a day, when most people aren't inclined to
give up a moment. You think not?
What did you do last Memorial Day at 3 p.m.? What will you do this
Memorial Day at 3 p.m.?
Lest we forget: Congress put a "National Moment of Remembrance"
resolution ( http://www.remember.gov/ ) on the books in December 2000 in the
hope that America would return
to the true meaning of Memorial Day. The resolution asks that in an act
of national unity, Americans at 3 p.m. local time "voluntarily and
informally observe in their own way a
Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing
for a moment of silence or listening to 'Taps.' "
The resolution notwithstanding, on Monday, some folks will go on
nonchalantly as if there isn't a war on. They'll be so distracted in their
pursuit of a good time that they will be
oblivious to the fact that some of the country's finest are in Iraq and
Afghanistan paying with their lives. And the cruel truth, which the
comfortable here at home will also ignore, is that
today's troops slugging it out overseas -- conveniently out of sight
and mind -- are bearing a disproportionately heavy load when it comes to
heeding the call to service.
They, more than any other group of Americans, are bearing the brunt of
decisions made by politicians in Washington. Troops in Iraq and
Afghanistan -- not the well-protected
people in the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department and
Congress -- are the ones losing arms, legs and life itself. An indebted
nation owes them more than can ever
be repaid. A single, uncluttered day of honor would be a good start.
It's the least a grateful America can do.
-30-
Semper Fidelis,
Mark
Don't the Fallen Deserve at Least a Moment?
By Colbert I. King
The Washington Post
Saturday, May 27, 2006; A25
"Memorial Day Sale! Warehouse Is Stocked and Ready for Your Home";
"Memorial Day SALE plus EXTRA 15% OFF when you use your store card or
pass"; "Memorial Day 1/2
Price Sale on Mattresses!"; "Memorial Day PIANO SALE"; "UNBELIEVABLE!
STOREWIDE SAVINGS JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND!" -- Thursday
newspaper
ads
This cannot be what Maj. Gen. John A. Logan, national commander of the
Grand Army of the Republic, had in mind when he officially proclaimed
Memorial Day on May 5, 1868.
His thought, as best I can tell, was to set aside a day to honor the
war dead. The true meaning of Memorial Day, however, has been overcome by
door-buster sales, backyard
cookouts and the opportunity to get a little extra sleep.
The fallen don't seem to mean much anymore except, perhaps, to veterans
of previous wars and their families, and to the nearly 5,000 mothers
and fathers of men and women in
uniform who have given their all in Iraq. To those parents, please add
surviving brothers and sisters, wives, husbands, children,
grandchildren, cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews
and nieces, neighbors and friends. If these folks happen to gather on
Memorial Day, most likely it won't be to organize a shop-a-rama or
barbecue. For them, Monday will be the
time to remember loved ones who lost their lives serving their country.
The shame is that much of the nation won't be sharing this day of
observance with those families. The shameless will be too busy with other
pressing matters, such as:
· Taylor Hicks, the "American Idol" -- should he have really won out
over Katharine McPhee?
· Rep. William Jefferson from New Orleans! Was he on the take?
· Don't forget Angelina, Brad and the expected baby in Namibia.
Then there's Comcast and the Nats; Libby and the Veep; Pelosi, Hastert
and the FBI; illegal immigrants, the border and the debate; and the
John Allen Muhammad farce in
Rockville. Anything and everything but time to honor to those who have
paid the ultimate price.
It shouldn't be this way.
If ever there was a day when the country should call a timeout on fun
and self-indulgent distractions and devote some serious time to a solemn
observance, it's this Memorial Day.
Goodness knows, enough Americans have given their lives to make it
possible.
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, beginning with the
American Revolution and continuing through the war on terrorism (as of
Sept. 30, 2005), there were 652,696
American battle deaths, including 53,402 in World War I; 291,557 in
World War II; 33,741 in the Korean War; 47,424 in Vietnam; and 147 in
Desert Shield-Desert Storm. Those totals
don't include the other Americans who died in those theaters of war.
That total comes to 14,416. To devote one day to the honor of 667,112
American souls should not be asking
too much. Evidently it is.
Otherwise, why will the malls, auto showrooms and ballparks be open for
business on Memorial Day? Why, on Monday, will sales outnumber memorial
services? But I overreach.
I'm fussing about not having a day, when most people aren't inclined to
give up a moment. You think not?
What did you do last Memorial Day at 3 p.m.? What will you do this
Memorial Day at 3 p.m.?
Lest we forget: Congress put a "National Moment of Remembrance"
resolution ( http://www.remember.gov/ ) on the books in December 2000 in the
hope that America would return
to the true meaning of Memorial Day. The resolution asks that in an act
of national unity, Americans at 3 p.m. local time "voluntarily and
informally observe in their own way a
Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing
for a moment of silence or listening to 'Taps.' "
The resolution notwithstanding, on Monday, some folks will go on
nonchalantly as if there isn't a war on. They'll be so distracted in their
pursuit of a good time that they will be
oblivious to the fact that some of the country's finest are in Iraq and
Afghanistan paying with their lives. And the cruel truth, which the
comfortable here at home will also ignore, is that
today's troops slugging it out overseas -- conveniently out of sight
and mind -- are bearing a disproportionately heavy load when it comes to
heeding the call to service.
They, more than any other group of Americans, are bearing the brunt of
decisions made by politicians in Washington. Troops in Iraq and
Afghanistan -- not the well-protected
people in the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department and
Congress -- are the ones losing arms, legs and life itself. An indebted
nation owes them more than can ever
be repaid. A single, uncluttered day of honor would be a good start.
It's the least a grateful America can do.
-30-
Semper Fidelis,
Mark