We have Monday off because others gave their lives for it.
Monday is Memorial Day in the U.S., and while many of us will be grilling burgers or otherwise enjoying a relaxing long weekend, we should remember why we have it.
I’m not one to glorify why we need armed forces. As a child too young to understand, I can remember each evening when several of my mother’s friends would join us to watch the news; that’s where Walter Cronkite would tell us all how many young men and women were killed in action that day in the Vietnam War. Growing up in an Army town meant there were usually tears and I learned at an early age that even to a civilian, war is hell.
But all Americans need to remember that those young men and women, along with countless before them and countless after, gave their lives because they thought they could make ours better. Try to take a moment sometime this weekend to honor them in your own way, then celebrate with friends and family because that’s why they made the sacrifice.
I’ll be spending a quiet weekend at home for the most part, simply enjoying the company of my lovely wife. I don’t deserve her, though she would disagree, and with the kids gone and the house to ourselves I’ll have an excellent weekend just because she’s with me. There will be peace and quiet, thick rare steaks, and plenty of red wine.
Take a moment and share your weekend plans with everybody in the comments and spend a few minutes connecting — that’s how the internet is best used!