Showing posts with label Memorial Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Memorial Day. Show all posts

Monday, May 29, 2023

US Memorial Day

Memorial Day should be more of somber remembrance than cookouts.  But I understand.  It is the right time to start Summer activities.  And it does celebrate the freedoms that our Fallen fought to maintain.  

And I don't mean just the freedom to burn a few hamburgers, eat some potato salad, and drink beer.  It is the gathering of friends and neighbors enjoying our own particular version of democracy.  It is a recognition of community.  It is not religious.  It is not really political.  It is not a time to speak in anger.   It is a time to ignore your crazy old Uncle who is wearing a tinfoil hat.  It is a time to ignore your Flower-Girl Niece who say "we just need more love in world".  And it is a time to ignore Communist Granny.

Yeah, politicians use the Day, but they take advantage of Groundhog Day too. (well, you can't stop them).

I seldom go to Memorial Day cookouts.  But when I do, I am polite to the Crazy Uncle, the Flower Girl Niece and the Communist Gramma.  I will listen to them all (briefly).  And to the children as well.  Cookouts are exciting to them.  They haven't eaten 1,000 hamburgers yet (LOL) and tried every version of one.  ;)

I enjoy the food well enough.  I mean, I've spent time camping (and primitive camping) where I ate stuff I would toss in the trash at home.  And some people's version of potato salad is depressingly bad.  I help clean up afterwards and thank the hosts later.  I've thrown a couple myself and other people did the same to clean up later.  

But I always keep in mind the true purpose of the holiday.  Sometimes Memorial Day and Veterans Day are confused as meaning nearly the same.  I trust you all know the difference.

Today, we honor those who died in our wars.  Good or Bad war doesn't matter today.  It is for those who lost their lives in service to the US.  My previous generation's family was fortunate.  On one side, my 3 Uncles went to WWII and they came back physically uninjured.  On the other side, my Dad and my Uncle built submarines and ships after being refused for active service.  

So these days, I tend to spend the day quietly at home, thinking about war and sacrifice and how many others did not return home to family and friends...

Memorial Day 2015

Monday, May 30, 2022

Memorial Day 2022

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1353/9793/products/FlandersField_530x@2x.jpg?v=1540905482 

In honor...

I remember this day.  I had uncles who fought in WWII.  Dad was refused for an "enlarged heart" (later discovered to be incorrect, so he spent the war helping to build submarines.

WWII was a war I understood.  Clear-cut. no debate. But I have never seen a poem to describe that war. It was a bloodbath all the way.  What could you say about Nazi death camps, Stalingrad and Hiroshima?

My uncles all arrived home after.  That was rare.  So many did not...


Monday, May 25, 2020

Memorial Day

Remembering and Honoring...
Vector Illustration Of Memorial Day. Day Of Remembrance. We ...
And, if I may, I would like to add my appreciation to those who risk (and sometimes lose) their lives fighting to save the lives of others during this Covid-19 pandemic...
First Responders Face High Risk but Lack Supplies and Personnel to ...

Monday, May 27, 2019

Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day (observed) in the US.  I honor this day.

Memorial Day was first widely observed in the US in May 1868. The celebration commemorated the sacrifices of the Civil War and the proclamation was made by General John A Logan. Following the proclamation, participants decorated graves of more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers.

President Ronald Reagan said in 1986, "Today is the day we put aside to remember fallen heroes and to pray that no heroes will ever have to die for us again. It's a day of thanks for the valor of others, a day to remember the splendor of America and those of her children who rest in this cemetery and others. It's a day to be with the family and remember."

President Barack Obama said in 2015 that "On Memorial Day, the United States pauses to honor the fallen heroes who died in service to our Nation. With heavy hearts and a sense of profound gratitude, we mourn these women and men—parents, children, loved ones, comrades-in-arms, friends, and all those known and unknown—who believed so deeply in what our country could be they were willing to give their lives to protect its promise.”

I usually post a small graphic to recognize the day.   I am of an age who had uncles who fought on the battlefields and aunts who spent time giving and collecting blood, working in the factories, and keeping the home fires lit...

But I think we sometimes forget why they did that beyond the usual "defense of country",  and I was reminded of that yesterday watching a history DVD.

The Statue Of Liberty (full name "Liberty Enlightening The World") was a gift from France.  It took a couple decades for the US to settle on a site for it and to construct a pedestal and to assemble the parts.  But I only mention that because of the poem.  Because the part of the poem by Emma Lazarus we know best is:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"


That's why my uncles, aunts, and forefathers fought.   And that is why I honor this day.  And not that my past generations succeeded in all, but they tried.  Sometimes honor is doing your best, knowing you are imperfect...

  ...................

BTW, do you know what is inscribed on the tablet?

"JULY IV MDCCLXXVI"  (July 4, 1776)

And the full sonnet written by  Emma Lazarus is:

"The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!".


France gave the U.S. the Statue of Liberty in 1886; Americans gave Paris a smaller version of the same statue in 1889.  The two face each other across the Atlantic...

Monday, May 25, 2015

Memorial Day (Observed)

I had elders who fought in the World Wars...  They survived.  Others did not.

And I do not forget that THIS day is for the ones who did not...

Those who did not come home changed our history.  On the battlefields to be sure.  But also in our current world.  Some of those who did not come home would have had children, but they did not.  Some of those children who never were might have grown to become doctors who cured diseases, engineered better buildings,  made inspirational art,  developed new varieties of plants to feed the hungry, or just been that good neighbor you needed when times were hard.

We will never know.  Their loss may ripple through history.  What next genious, what next innovative doctor, was never born through the untimely death of some soldier?  So when we remember those who gave their lives to protect us, we must also consider what bravery, focus, skill, and dedication was also lost to our present.


Looking Up

 While I was outside with The Mews, I laid back and looked up.  I thought the tree branches and the clouds were kind of nice. Nothing import...