Memorial Day

I won't say "Happy Memorial Day," as Memorial Day should be a day of reflection as much as celebration. It's a day when we honor our war dead from all our wars--Revolutionary through Iraq--and think about the freedoms we have because of their sacrifice.

I'll take my dad to the cemetery to see Mom today. He is old-fashioned and still usually calls this Decoration Day. Back in West Virginia, they always decorated the cemeteries this day, and so we will do so for Mom.

We're fortunate in this country for so many things, among them the fact that so few soldiers die in conflict these days. Not like in World War II, where 418,500 Americans died. All in all, more than 72 million people died in that conflict.

I'm grateful that I haven't had any family members or close friends die in that conflict. Yet. My niece's husband spent seven months there and returned unharmed. He's not scheduled to go back. But having a father who served in three wars, I know that you can never count on not going back.

And so, we honor our war dead, those brave men and women who fought and died so that Americans can complain and protest, cheer and support, this greatest nation on Earth.

Neptunus Lex has this very nice tribute to our fallen soldiers.