As today draws to a close, Let Us Remember The Real Reasons for Memorial Day
As Memorial Day draws to a close, let us remember the real reasons for this day of commemoration. As so many others have pointed out in various other threads leading up to and including on this day, it is a day for reflection, not for sales and discounts. It is a day to remember the dead, not a day to kick off summer.
There our obviously moments to commemorate and remember from the the Civil War, a bloodied saga to preserve the Union, to the Second World War, a fight where 100s of thousands of Americans went off to combat a great evil and didn't return. Then of course, there are our more controversial engagements, whose merits and worths are hotly contested and debated, from Vietnam to Afghanistan. With these conflicts, most of us may not agree that their undertakings were or are worthwhile or just. Regardless of that, we all remember and reflect over those servicemen and women who gave their lives. That is the point of this day, to reflect and take pause, to hopefully reconsider sending our soldiers to unnecessary killing fields.
It is worthwhile to note, on this occasion, the multitudes of people, non-Americans, who on this day among a number of days of great importance to Americans, honor our war dead from the big one, World War II.
This PBS documentary is from a few years ago but it is as poignant as ever. When you have the time, I recommend you watch the entire program...
It is a specific part I wish to share, however, that epitomizes the enduring legacy of those fallen soldiers who still lay in Europe. If you do not know already, there are countless Europeans who adopt American soldiers graves and tend to them, plant flowers and flags, and pay respects. This link in that PBS program tells of a Dutch woman who, since 1945, has adopted and visited the grave of a young American GI who had been billeted in her home for a time...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=xOPywsx0MKM#t=2619s
Every year since the War ended, on Memorial Day, on his birthday, on Christmas Day, she brings flowers...
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