FOR MEMORIAL DAY, GRATITUDE

EDITION OF MONDAY, MAY 28, 2018 (PetPowellPress) -- For Memorial Day, 2018, some personal thoughts focusing on the lives, ambitions and rights of Americans.
This is the last day of a three-day holiday for Americans -- movies, parties, days at lakes and beaches, naps at home, other family activities, shopping Memorial Day sales and, especially for some, visits to gravesites.
 Why gravesites? Because Memorial Day is not a “holiday,” it is a day of commemoration, loss and gratitude. 
And, we can also marvel at these lost Americans. 
Memorial Day honors people who were loved and who gave their lives for people they loved. It is a day of appreciation for lives lost in military service on behalf of an entire nation and its freedoms.

Perhaps we should look at it this way: We have all lost someone in the military -- not blood relatives but they are kin via the American Family Tree.
Maybe these lost people were the children of neighbors or they were dads of schoolmates or they were men and women we never knew existed.
Maybe in this century, they are kids that our kids went to school with or they are the children of our children’s teachers. Perhaps they are the child of a co-worker or the husband of a co-worker.
We all share an globally significant connection -- America. 

For my generation, the focus was Vietnam and there is The Wall that lists those who were lost. And I commemorate and appreciate every one of them with a sadness that exists because they were lost in a war that was not easily stopped -- it was a political fight rather than a military campaign. Others may feel differently -- but because of our military people through the years, our America continues to encourage us to differ while we love one another. I hope and pray.

Maybe you grew up with a veteran. I’m a Baby Boomer, born only a couple of years after my drafted U.S. Army infantryman dad left “the service.” Pop never really left the war, but he didn’t talk about it. And it didn’t kill him but it sure killed some of his drive, some of his ability to trust life to be a joy. He’d seen bad things. He’d lived through bad things.

And on this Memorial Day, I am fortunate enough to have had a parent who, for the most part, survived the war. Hitler didn’t get him.

For all of those families and loved ones who got the telegram or the visit, for those whose loss came suddenly on one day, or whose loved ones lingered for days or weeks or months or years before the wounds of war took them, I can only offer my gratitude for the service and sacrifice. Those lost people made America stronger -- while they were lost, their legacy is not. They protect -- their actions STILL protect -- our nation so most of us can live safely and prosper and enjoy ambitions and dreams. And we can still shoot off our mouths about the people in office -- that’s America.
 So, bless the hearts of all we lost. We can honor those heroes by living the American life to the fullest -- every day. Every day be a proud, grateful American.

[AN AMERICAN REMINDER: Here is a brief note about what all our lost military personnel and their surviving colleagues were and are fighting for -- it’s a summary of our freedoms and the law that guards them. You know it as the “First Amendment” to the U.S. Constitution: 
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” 
If we won’t let Congress abridge our freedoms, why would we let some clown with an ornamental uniform and a lack of respect for human rights do it? God bless our military -- give each member of the U.S. Armed Forces the strength and resources for their missions and keep these precious Americans safe.]

--- Cherish AmerIca’s freedoms and exercise the right of expression when you click below. ---