Here-here to that. I get a lot frustrated with the way that Memorial Day is remembered. In fact, as one of the few veterans that many of the students know here, I had a couple of people talk to me on Memorial day and comment that it was "my" day as a veteran. I was grateful that at least they were that aware of what Memorial Day was, but I explained to them that Memorial day is for the Veterans you cannot talk to. However, for the majority of people Memorial Day is just a day to celebrate the Beginning of summer.

This is part of a larger problem, wherein people have lost the meaning of sacrifice. When I lived in DC I stopped accompanying extended family members to places like Gettysburg, Arlington, or Memorials because I felt that people treated them as tourist attractions and not as the national hallowed ground that they are. Even worse, in my opinion, is that when the media does cover soldiers who sacrifice, they often phrase it not as a noble sacrifice of a brave man or woman for the good of others, but of a poor dupe who got conned into joining the military. The absolute worst at this, of course, is Michael Moore who comes right out and says it.

I understand that death is a sad time for all involved, and like most people on this forum, I have left close friends on the battlefield. However, I view their service and their lives as something to be celebrated, and not mourned. Surely they are missed, but they have sanctified their lives in one glorious moment, and all of us should remember and respect that. We survivors should be so lucky, and try and live our lives to give them as much meaning as those who laid down theirs on our behalf gave to theirs.