Memorial Day Burnout

[angrychair]

Hear me out.

It’s about the ultimate sacrifice. We ask so much of those that are willing to put their lives at risk for our safety and security.

The problem is that, especially since 9/11 that every day of the year is “memorial day”. It becomes tedious and hyperbolic to call everyone and everything military “heroes” to the point the word loses value. We lose sight of what true heroism is and what selfless sacrifice really means.

Not to mention that such focus and emphasis on the military and war and guns, with little to no connection or responsibility to its costs (financial and social) and destruction (physical and mental), we are evolving into a culture that glorifies war and death. Slowly but without doubt, with each passing year, we value peace and statesmanship and diplomacy less and less.

In state capitals across the country you cannot throw a stick without hitting a war memorial of some kind. At the same time you will likely never find a monument to an intellectual or explorer or diplomat. They exist but are few and far between. There are no holidays for intellectuals or explorers or diplomats. Intellectualism is not seen as commendable or as valuable as physical prowess. Knowledge is ridiculed or mocked. To often diplomacy is equated to weakness. Peace the refuge of the coward.

Memorial Day as a holiday to acknowledge the service and sacrifice of the fallen is great but it loses its value if “Memorial Day” is every single day. If everyone in the military is a “hero”. If we honor those that have fallen in the abstract without acknowledging the true cost of war and death and destruction on our own society and the nations we wage war on. We lose its meaning if we fail to pay due respect to diplomacy and statesmanship and we seem more inclined to wage war than wage peace.

We should hope and encourage our elected political officials and ourselves to endeavor for a day when a Memorial Day is no longer necessary.

That is a day we should all look forward to seeing.

[Demit]

1. Nicely written.

Yes, we seem to be a permanent war culture now. The citizenry is being trained to romanticize war. Trained to robotically say "thank you for your service," and to go "oooh" at military aircraft doing stadium flyovers. They're going to waste more of our tax money giving Trump his military parade.

On Memorial Day I think of those who answered the call, in good faith, and either lost their lives or came home broken, and I give them the respect they earned. But I hate military worship, and the warmongers who love war for its own sake.

[Boomerproud]

2. Every word you wrote is true. It sickens me what

We've become. I am the daughter of a WWII vet and the sister of a Vietnam vet. Local news with their flag waving all weekend (followed by the glorious Memorial Day ads ) makes me ill. 9-11 changed this country forever.