Lest We Forget Is Something To REMEMBER

With Memorial Day celebrations taking place again around this time of year it got me thinking even the use of celebration is misplaced. You will hear words of honoring the war dead, the fallen, even paying homage to active military or those who have served and are living veterans. Picnics, time off from work, boating, the start of summer, hot dogs, playing toss the frisbee with the dog, flags draped from the eaves of our roofs or little flags in the grass by the curb. All well and good but I also think SECONDARY to what the day really means and WHY there should be a PAUSE in our life on Memorial Day. If I had to sum up WHAT DOES MEMORIAL DAY MEAN in three words I would say

           LEST WE FORGET.

It is truly a day of REMEMBERING NOT to forget the high cost of war. War is HELL. Let no one diminish that in the lives of all a war event takes its toll on. From the ones who give the ultimate sacrifice of their lives to the ongoing impact on their families and the civilian populations at the epicenters of war with the destruction of homes and buildings and the environment. Those that are wounded with life long injuries, maimings and being crippled in some fashion. So many physical and psychic wounds.

The holiday actually began as "Decoration Day" with visits to war dead in the cemeteries and I think we should probably all do more of that to get this remembering thing down better. From the Civil War days putting flowers and flags on graves, it was VERY up close and personal. Our nation's WORST war in terms of those died.

The cost of war is almost always too high and is serious when we put our fellow citizens in harm's way and need to limit that as much as possible into the future. The REMEMBERING is the price ALL have paid when it comes to war. Something you live with your whole life even after a war is over. REMEMBERING lives never lived, barely out of high school, not getting married or having any kids, all the horror one might see and experience. Remembering that cost, war should almost be a last resort, rarely if ever, set into motion. We honor the fallen and all those affected to

NEVER FORGET!!!