Memorial Day

I hope you all have had a safe and happy Memorial Day. As always a Thank You to those who have fallen on behalf of this country, its freedom, and its interests.

If you've read this blog over the years you know the above statement is heartfelt, and so I hope you take the next one in context: Sadly, there are some real winners that use this holiday as a springboard for their craziness.

Anecdote #1: a guy at a store on Friday who asked the clerk if they would be open today. The clerk replied in the affirmative. "Anyone who's open for business on Memorial Day should be shot!" the man replied.

Anecdote #2: the lefty-exchange student some years back who compared our National holidays (4th of July, Memorial Day) with the displays of Nazi Germany.

Anecdote #3: the mandatory rants using the holdiay as an attack on Bush or Obama, depending on their point of view.

Anecdote #4: the guy who said that no one, outside of vets and active personnel, should comment on or have any say in the running of the military or the activities they take part in, including Memorial Day.

Anecdote #5: the newspaper columnist who points to our picnics and weekend travel as a measure of our lack of respect for the sacrifices made on our behalf.

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Memo to #1 - Most places should be closed on the holiday - on most holidays, really - but that's a bit of an extreme POV. I'm pretty sure you yourself bought a paper, drank some Starbucks, pumped some gas, or, given your mouth, received some stitches today. Does your opinion hold true for yahoos who frequent those establishments, or is it only labor and management you hold accountable?

#2 meant well, but Germans are still wrapped up in guilt and conflicting emotions. I took it as a wildly off base but innocent remark.

Memo to #3 - all of you, STFU for one day, if only out of respect.

Memo to #4 - I'm a freakin' Hawk and I think that's nuts. America isn't the Racoon Lodge of Hackinsack New Jersey. You can't exclude someone just because they don't wear your nifty hat or share your secret handshake; a citizen is a citizen, with all the rights it implies. If he chooses to, a [bleep] Quaker can give his two cents and it means every bit as much as your opinion, mine, or anyone else.

#5 - I think you've got it wrong. Remember the dead, but live for those around you. What better way to celebrate this country and its beliefs than to gather your family and spend the day with them? You don't think every one of the fallen would do the same if they had the opportunity?

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Anyway, I repeat what I said at the beginning of this post: I hope you all have had a safe and happy Memorial Day. And as always a Thank You to those who have fallen on behalf of this country, its freedom, and its interests.