I couldn’t really do a funny post for today, sorry. I always like to give a warning shot, since the website has comedy in the title. Memorial Day was created after the Civil War, in which 600,000 casualties of war bought the price of freedom and ended the institution of slavery in the United States. Today, we honor our fallen heroes who paid the highest price with a day of remembrance.
This is a long way to travel to my point and dark, but bear with me. I read a story about a month ago my mom told me about. A drug addicted mom, her mom and a friend were arrested in Cincinnati for beating her six year old son to death. Apparently, the kid was hungry and crying, so the woman that gave birth to this boy (who was reported to be the size of a four year old from malnutrition) decided he was getting on her nerves and beat him until he died from his injuries. That story has stuck in my head the entire month of May.
This weekend I googled Memorial Day stories and was directed to the PBS website where people posted stories of their friends and family who were lost to war. I clicked on Vietnam, which is near to me since my dad fought with the 101st Airborne there. I don’t know what was more painful, reading stories from children, now in their 50’s, who knew their fathers, or the ones that put simply “to the man I never knew.” Some were short, some were long, but I only made it about three pages in and had to stop. I wanted to keep going, but I couldn’t.
In this country today, I can go on social media and see all kinds of posts about how America sucks. I don’t make enough money, life’s not fair, how dare people not realize how important issue x or y is, etc. The history of the world has always been filled with oppression, tyrants, suffering and war, but in this little spot of time in mankind’s existence, a group of people of different backgrounds, races, and political views have found a way, through the promise of liberty, to build the greatest and freest nation ever wrought by humankind. We can worship (or not) how we choose, live as we see fit and express our minds as we want. Freedom is always under assault from those who do not appreciate it or covet the reins of power. Some, especially our soldiers, have went to the corners of the earth in the prime of their youths to defend and/or promote the principles of freedom. Some have been used and abused by our politicians or disrespected upon their return to civilian life or have had to survive with crippling mental and physical injuries.
Too many of our vets kill themselves. I encourage everyone to put pressure on their representatives to act or donate to any one of the veteran suicide prevention organizations (google it – there are plenty). The VA controversy is still unresolved. I think about those that sacrificed their lives and then I think about the lady that killed her own son I mentioned earlier. What a chasm that can exist between people and how we live our lives.
My point for the earlier depressing story and the Memorial Day remembrances is just this. Live a life of good. Too many people have given too much for the beautiful things we can enjoy in this country to exist as a heap of human shit. Too many families torn asunder; too many lives sacrificed. Take a couple minutes to remember our heroes, then strive to live a life that would make those who aren’t around anymore proud to know that their loss was not in vain. God bless the fallen on this hallowed day of remembrance.