Memorial Day 2010

by cocknfire on May 31, 2010 12:00 PM EDT in General

I was working at a paper in Sumter, South Carolina, one year when we decided to mark Memorial Day by profiling some of the units that worked at nearby Shaw Air Force Base -- a fitting tribute, those involved in the planning thought, to honor the troops.

It wasn't until the project neared completion that someone remarked that Memorial Day was supposed to honor the fallen soldiers, those who had given the ultimate sacrifice for their country. The men and women we were profiling had certainly sacrificed to serve, but all of them were very much alive. A note was hastily added to the front page, pointing out that Memorial Day was for the dead, and we were paying tribute to them by chronicling the sacrifices of the living.

We tend to forget, amid the BBQ and the baseball games and the parades, what today is actually about. We have a vague notion that it is a day to celebrate our country and to remember our armed forces. But the details get lost, obscured by the smoke of the fireworks and the roar of the planes buzzing sports stadiums.

Remember, just for a day, what today is supposed to be all about.

After all, that was always supposed to be the point.

And a thank you from Team Speed Kills to those who have sacrificed their loved ones over the last eight-and-a-half years, and then all those who did so even before then. There's not a separate day set aside for us to celebrate you. There should be.

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And a thank you from Team Speed Kills to those who have sacrificed their loved ones over the last eight-and-a-half years, and then all those who did so even before then. There’s not a separate day set aside for us to celebrate you. There should be.

I echo those thoughts, from the bottom of my heart.

But, just to point it out, we do have Veterans Day and Armed Forces Day. We just don’t all take a 3-day weekend and go out fishing to celebrate them.

by vineyarddawg on May 31, 2010 2:34 PM EDT reply actions

i also have trouble with the idea this is a day to "celebrate"

it is rather a day to be “observed.” or, to put it another way,i don’t feel comfortable saying “happy memorial day” because that doesn’t seem to fit the measure of the day. still, that’s not to say one must spend the holiday in a dour mood and fasting to properly honor those it commemorates.

isn’t enjoying the freedoms these men and women have sacrificed to ensure we have an appropriate way to honor them? the fact we enjoy a weekend of leisure isn’t what is morally questionable, but instead it is having the audacity to enjoy it while assuming it is something we automatically deserve.

Roll 'Bama Roll: The Champagne of 'Bama Blogs.

by kleph on May 31, 2010 10:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Just to clarify on both comments

“those who have sacrificed their loved ones”

Memorial Day is aimed at remembering the fallen, which is all well and good. But I think we tend to forget, even on a day like Memorial Day, the enormous sacrifice the families make. The individuals who give their lives and loves to the military deserve to be celebrated because they represent the best in us all.

Team Speed Kills. All SEC, all the time.

by cocknfire on Jun 1, 2010 1:42 AM EDT up reply actions