Honor & Remembrance

Maybe you woke up as I did this morning, wondering who you would spend time remembering on this Memorial Day. (Did you? Have you?)

I don't have any veterans, past or present, in my family. My dad, who is still living, was in the National Guard stationed in Greenland in the late-1950's for less than one year, but I don't think that counts. (Does it?)

Unlike so many families across the nation, we are not one with a long history of service to this country. I don't know why, and frankly have never thought about it until now.

Perhaps there is an underground pacifist thread that runs through the bloodline that no one has bothered to tell me about. Or maybe joining a military branch is something that is proudly passed down through generations and generations of a family, beginning back before recorded history, and if you miss the boat, you miss the boat. I'm not sure. (Do you know?)

What I do know is this: I have never fully appreciated the sacrifice that men and women in generations past and present have made to defend our country and democracy. It's true, I just haven't.

This was not done with intent or out of malice, but with the unconscious disregard of one who is free and almost always safe from harm. One who has never gone to bed living in an actual war zone, wondering if a bullet or bomb will hurt or kill her children in the night. One who has never been told she can't question government through protest or whose freedoms are grossly restricted because she is female.

The list goes on, but you get the idea.

This is all a very long way of thanking the women and men, far and wide, who have put their lives on the line for me and for this country. I deeply appreciate it.

Peace to all.