Have You Given A ServiceMan or Woman a Personal Thank You Lately?

We all know how important it is to remember those ServiceMen and Women who have gone before us and paid the ultimate price to insure our freedoms. 

Many of us Active Rainers have written posts about this weekend being Memorial Day Weekend, or, as my GrandMother used to call it, Decoration Day.

But... in addition to that... there is one suggestion I would love to make.

One thing I might add... is that each person reading this post... and all the rest of the Memorial Day posts... make a personal vow... that the next time we see someone whom we recognize as currently serving... how about if we go up to that person or persons and personally thank them for serving our country. 

It could happen anywhere.  At the local Dairy Queen, at the drug store, while shopping in Krogers, at the Ballpark watching a baseball game, or even at the Indy Five Hundred.

Just walk up to someone who appears to be in the Service, and ask them if they are on Active Duty.  Then just a simple "I just wanted to say Thank You for serving our country, and helping to keep all of us free."

I have done this many times... and the look in the eyes of those I have thanked... is simply priceless.

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Note:  Decoration Day began after the Civil War.  Mostly women's organizations "decorated" the graves of their Confederacy fallen heroes in and around Richmond, Virginia.  In some ways it was done as a solemn commemoration of their deaths, and in some ways as a remembrance of their lives.

The same "decorating" of the graves of Union soldiers... with flowers and flags... was done as well.  Gradually, the name "Decoration Day" was replaced by "Memorial Day"... but the custom of placing flowers and flags at the graves of our fallen heroes... is STILL done today in many cemeteries, as I am sure you know.  The custom of putting flags at the grave sites, as seen in the picture, is an example of that "decorating."

A better, or more complete explanation of Memorial Day - Decoration Day can be found by reading the first five paragraphs at this link. 

By the way... I am 68 years old, and the Grandmother I spoke of would have been telling me these stories in the late 1940's and early 1950's.  Grammy was born in 1888... and had many, many stories to tell.  Honestly, it was SO much better than cable.

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