Journal

Happy Memorial Day. Now Pay Attention.

8 Comments

From the Schlock Mercenary Open Letter.

Today, May 31st, is Memorial Day in the United States. Originally the day was set aside for visiting the graves and the memorials for those fallen defending our freedom, but with so many people getting the day off of work it ends up being spent kicking off the summer with barbecues, boating, and the assorted consumption-in-excess that marks pretty much every other American holiday.

I’m not saying don’t have fun. I’m just saying that now would be a good time to think about why you’re ABLE to have fun. There are soldiers in harm’s way today, right now, and they’ve earned a moment of your reflection, meditation, or prayer.

I just got back from a week in a foreign country. In my travels over the last decade I’ve seen parts of the world where freedom has been very recently earned, and is a little more cherished, a little less taken-for-granted than it is here at home.

They say that God helps those who help themselves. By extension, “God Bless America” isn’t going to happen unless we give a little bit of thought to blessing her ourselves. So please, take some time today to think about the freedoms you enjoy, to give thanks to those who’ve made that possible, and to consider what you can do to make this a better place for all of us.

–Howard

8 thoughts on “Happy Memorial Day. Now Pay Attention.”

  1. Lord of Hosts be with us yet…
    Lest we forget, lest we forget….

    Poppies always remind me of the Royal British Legion of course.

  2. Amen, to both of you. There is little I have the eloquence to add, but know that I agree, with my whole heart.

    Blessed be. Blessed be. Blessed be.

  3. Thanks for the thought, Howard. I think we all need to be reminded of that… especially when we have people fighting overseas right now. Today, my thoughts are with the soldiers with nothing but hope for their safe return… I’ll put aside my arguments about the war for another day.

  5. I spent the day taking my grandmother around the parade route in South Deerfield. It was her first Memorial Day without her husband, Larry Fortier, who was the commander of our local VFW. The reverence I saw from some and the lack of understanding I saw from the children led me to make my recent lj post. I’m planning on emailing it to local papers for the editorial pages. Hopefully someone will notice.

    Thanks for the words, Howard.

    Oh, and today’s comic was hilarious.

    1. Hilarious…

      Oh, and today’s comic was hilarious.

      What can I say? Eating someone else’s baby accidentally is always hilarious.

      Or something like that.

  6. Thank you

    I truly enjoyed reading the open letter when I dropped by the site last night.

    Thank you for what you’ve said. It needs saying.

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