Every day should be your Memorial Day
The other day, my friend, Matt Burden, wrote on Facebook that this weekend should absolutely include barbeques and picnics because that’s how our fallen warriors would want us to spend a weekend remembering them – that we can push all of the worries in the world to the side because of their sacrifice. His point was that we don’t need to visit graves, plant flags and flowers in veterans’ cemeteries to honor their last full measure of devotion. All we need to do is live a life worthy of their sacrifice, and the sacrifice of their families.
Most of those warriors would be embarrassed by the attention, well, I know I would. But then, I’m embarrassed when someone thanks me for my service. It’s not that I’m not grateful for their verbal expression of gratitude, it’s just that I never know what to say. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think of every one of my friends and soldiers who have been lost because of their service to the American people. In my mind, what I’ve done doesn’t even approach that which they’ve done for this country and I honor their memory by living a life that they would consider worth what they gave to us.
In that regard, every day is Memorial Day for me. I don’t need to visit Arlington Cemetery and stand among the headstones. Everyday, I stand among the headstones in my mind.
Mostly, those warriors who went on before us, just want you to enjoy the life that they helped secure for you. Enjoying the time that you spend with your family and friends, doing the things with your life that make you smile is honoring the sacrifices that were made for you. I think “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” were all mentioned in the Declaration of Independence.
It’s not what you do one day out of the year that honors veterans, it’s what you do the other 364 days. It’s not the “thank you for your service” that matters, it’s what you say to me before you know that I’m a veteran.
So I hope you have an honorable Memorial Day weekend.
Category: Holidays
Jonn, thank you and well said. There is nothing I could add to your words.
Hear, hear.
I wish every person in America would read this, Jonn.
Very well said.
I agree as we remember those that have fallen, through sadness we must find the joy to celebrate them as well. It is what I believe they would wish for us to do.
It is through living an honourable life that we give back to those no longer here and thank the families and friends left behind for their ultimate sacrifice.
And on that note, this weekend, I will celebrate all of our Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines that are no longer here and their families that were left behind, but I also will be celebrating and honouring all of you as well.
Thank you each and everyone for everything you have done and continue to do for our Country and for all Americans.
Well said Jonn, very well said.
I also get embarrassed when someone thanks me for my service – in part because I think of so many who have done so much more, and sacrificed so much more, than I have. Still, I’m proud to have done my (very) small part.
Some years ago I was in an airport, in uniform, with another guy who was a little more senior than me. Someone thanked us for serving and he replied “Thank you – it’s an honor to serve.” I decided that this was just about the perfect response, and I’ve used it ever since.
Lost two classmates and two team members…I remember constantly, especially this weekend. But I also wonder what if…what if they lived?
This is it. Nothing else needs to be said. Thank you.
Honorable Memorial Day to you to Jonn … thanks!
I am also embarrassed as to what to say.
Now I say Thank you for your support and please support the USO.
That’s just because I have a soft spot for the USO but you can put whatever you want in that message.
And thanks to all of you out there that read this, I am truly humbled by the quality of people I have met through these and other Veteran pages…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKqT0-3JV5E&feature=youtube_gdata_player “Memorial Day means different things to different people. For many, it is the start of the summer season, an annual trip to the beach, a 3-day weekend, or a great excuse for a barbeque. In my family, it meant more. I grew up in a military family. My father and grandfathers served. Every couple of years we would move to a new base and start the process of finding new friends and sometimes finding old ones from earlier postings. I was 8 years old when my father went to serve in Vietnam. I was too young to understand the politics at the time, but I remember being angry at people I saw on television saying that soldiers in Vietnam were bad people. MY Dad wasn’t. I remember being afraid when I saw the green military sedan driving past and we would stop playing and watch to see if it was going to someones house the green sedan stopping meant somebody’s father was dead or hurt. I remember not knowing what to say to a friend that had lost his father and feeling guilty because I was so happy it wasn’t my Dad. I have long wanted to do something to honor, not only my father and all those that have served their country in the military, but also the families that stay behind and wait. This video, The Path of the Warrior, is a small token of my respect and gratitude. I hope you will forward this letter, or at least the video link, to all those you know who either serve in the armed forces or wait behind. What will I do this Memorial Day? I have not been to a parade since my children were little. In truth, I will probably be working on one of Humanity Healing’s projects and it is a good excuse for a barbecue; but at some point during the day, I will send a prayer of protection to those currently serving and their families, I will say a Blessing to those who did not return and a pray of comfort to their… Read more »
The title of the video is “The Path of thr Warrior”
Thank you for saying it Jonn.
And I hope you and yours have a safe and honorable Memorial Day weekend as well.
Comrades in Arms: This topic is one of my favorite sore points, because I perpetually find myself in disagreement with everybody about everything. Memorial Day is NOT this coming Monday! Memorial Day is Friday 30 May 2014, and I refuse to observe any date other than the traditional Memorial Day. I believe the hidden REAL purpose of the creation of federally mandated Monday holidays may possibly be to lull Americans into gradually forgetting their own precious heritage. Memorial Day and Veterans Day are NOT synonymous! Memorial Day is NOT to be celebrated! Memorial Day is to be solemnly observed with religious ritual. Memorial Day is for remembering and honoring our nation’s military dead. There are three hundred and sixty-four (364) other days for putting flowers on Great Aunt Bertha’s grave. Memorial Day is intended to be solely a MILITARY occasion. In accordance with Army Regulation 670-1:30-6, both Memorial Day and Veterans Day are appropriate occasions for military veterans to wear their full sized medals on their civilian suits. Veterans Day is for honoring our living military veterans, and on Veterans Day, celebrations are appropriate. Parades, bands, concerts, shows, pageantry, picnics, festivities, fireworks, dancing, feasting, and revelry are fitting activities for Veterans Day. However, such gaiety is NOT fitting when solemnly observing Memorial Day by paying proper military respect to our honored dead. In keeping with tradition, any and all Veterans Day activities should always be scheduled to begin at exactly 1100 hours on the 11th of November, as the Armistice of 1918 took effect on the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month. Unfortunately, I now see more and more Veterans Day activities are ignoring tradition, and scheduling events at other times and/or dates. Obviously, local veterans organizations, whose duty it is to ensure the maintenance of history and tradition, are woefully failing to meet their community responsibility. I realize my personal opinions will upset some (Many? Most?) folks, and for that, I do not apologize. As our American military heritage continues to be systematically and deliberately ignored, belittled, suppressed, and/or outright eliminated through nefarious mechanizations within… Read more »
John … Good to see ya buddy!
John, I join Master Chief in being glad to see you here and posting big time! I hope your pain has eased and you are feeling better. You are in my prayers brother.
John,
I value your opinion and point of view. Thanks for speaking your mind.
Welcome back JRM…a fine post.
Well said and I am glad to see you back, John. Would you mind if I copied this and took it to my American Legion Post?
Yes, you may.
Thank you.
Thank you, Comrades, for your very kind thoughts.
Earlier today, I had a momentary respite from this constant pain, but now, it has returned.
I have an appointment with the Gold Clinic at the Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System in Biloxi, Mississippi this next Thursday 29 May 2014 at 1430 Hours for the doctor to examine me and order an MRI of my neck and of my brain.
Although, by contract, non-military retiree residents of the Armed Forces Retirement Home are treated by the 81st Medical Group at Keesler Air Force Base,
patients who are over the age of sixty-five (65) are routinely sent elsewhere for MRI scans, and thus, to avoid the expense, I was advised to have the VA order the MRI.
At chow, I was so weak, I had to use my wheelchair, but now I’m back on my feet.
Actually, I’ve got it pretty good living here in the Armed Forces Retirement Home.
It amazes me how blessed I am!
Just think – – – ,
If I hadn’t been able to serve in the United States Army, I wonder what would have become of me?
I sure wouldn’t have been hospitalized at Keesler Air Force Base when I had my heart attack!
Remember, after all those years of horror locked up in the state mental hospital, I was denied enlistment in the United States Marine Corps and the United States Army, and only succeeded in getting in because I volunteered to be drafted.
And now, the news reports that EIGHTY (80) percent of applicants are being rejected for Army service!
I wonder what kind of lives those guys will have?
JRM: a lot of us in the same generation have the same thoughts. I’ve had a great life and career but I swear that 50% of it was being in the right place at the right time because other great folks did not flourish in the end for whatever reason. Ok, I was dedicated and focused and loved the military and my parents raised me right. I was blessed with NCO’s that taught this L.T. the right way. They made me what I was.
I think there can be a balance between remembering and celebrating.
Agreed, Enigma.
Some find remembering those gone a solemn day, others a time of celebrating of their lives. Its a personal decision. Neither right nor wrong.
This is the best description of Memorial day that I have ever read, and I find it very inspiring, and true.
Here’s the URL where you can view my own personal tribute in observance of Memorial Day on Friday 30 May 2014 – – – ;
http://writesong.blogspot.com/2013/05/traditional-memorial-day.html