Memorial Day weekend is here again. Its history stretches back nearly as far as does Arlington National Cemetery. It is intertwined in the history of this site as well. It is a somber occasion for me, as I believe it should be observed by others.
Memorial Day began as Remembrance Day, a day when Confederate Widows silently went out to honor their Soldiers in their final resting place. It was later adopted by the Yankee Widows and the Nation, as the right thing to do for those that had given their lives in the defense of their Nation, in the defense of Freedom, those who had fought with Honor in horrific circumstances.
I will spend my Memorial Day with the living, with my Brothers in Arms who survived the battle. My mind will turn to those that did not, though I may or may not mention them. My Brothers will likely remember those that fought alongside them, though they too may not tell their tales. Each of us remembers in our own way and spoken words will not do justice to the thoughts we have.
I will likely send an email to a dear friend, whom I met at the worst of times. Her Soldier will remain unnamed but not unknown and bringing him home to her will remain one of the most important duties I've performed. The honors he received were earned beyond what was seen, but more than those of Our Other Fallen Brothers. This is her day, not mine. The honors were for her, not me. Though they were made for him, they comforted her. Her sacrifice was not made in vain though her pain still resides.
Memorial Day is one for civilians to steer clear of me. Some will wish to thank me while others will wish to celebrate the wrong holiday. It is not my day and it is not a day of celebration, nor should it be a day of commercialization. It is a somber day and its too easy for the ignorant to kick my soapbox out from my rucksack.
It was my first Memorial Day back from the last trip to Afghanistan that spurred me to finding a wider means of telling the Warrior's story. I was in that somber mood, but didn't wish to sit around the house by myself. My Harley is usually a good outlet for such occasions and the destination need not be planned. Still, there were some stops along the way and encounters with civilians celebrating the day.
Some didn't know and didn't care to know the differences between May Day, Memorial Day, and Labor Day, a willful ignorance from which they wouldn't let go. Others wouldn't think of anything else but their own plans to party. And yet others found my thoughts of my Brothers back in Afghanistan and Iraq to be too much of a downer, to contemplate, even on that day. To their minds, if any of it were important, the news media would have told them, not some Harley Riding Veteran searching for solace.
As I moved out, frustrated and bewildered at the detachment of our Warriors from the Protected, I found comfort only in the company of Brothers, a VFW along my unplanned route, where we too ate off the grill and drank beer, but not in cheer of a day at the mall or a great sporting event. We looked at the walls filled with pictures of Our Brothers, remembering silently, comforted by the presence of others like ourselves who had survived the battle but grateful for those that had not so that we could.
This Memorial Day, stories abound of the Commander In Chief, a civilian, who acts the same as those civilians I encountered that day. Because he hadn't been back to Chicago for "more than a year" he chose to go there to see friends and family rather than honor my Unknown Brothers in Arlington. Unlike my Brothers fighting in Iraq and in Afghanistan and other places unnamed, the President could have chosen any weekend he wanted for such a visit. My Brothers fighting for Freedom in a War he calls a "Contingency" don't see their families for a year and don't get to choose which times they do.
Other Presidents have gone elsewhere on Memorial Day. The last one went to Normandy in 2002, to honor my Brothers who fell on D-Day. The one before him never missed the honor of Honoring those more honorable than himself at Arlington. In the last 18 years, this is only the second time the somber duty has been delegated down below the Commander in Chief. The last time, it was so that the CinC could Honor the fallen of Normandy. And no, those before that don't get a free pass on skipping their duties, but frankly I don't know when the body politic woke up and realized that the Tomb of the Unknown is where their duties should take them on Memorial Day.
Stumble It!
