Memorial Day

This is Memorial Day weekend.   I worked Saturday and my co-workers were all talking about Barbecue and where best to get it. As a result on Saturday, I was jonesing for BBQ and wound up getting it at our local place, where for a brief time in the late 70's, my Dad worked.  Saturday would have been my Dad's 98th birthday and I would have visited the cemetery, but it IS Memorial day and probably a real zoo,  I am not as patient at large crowds and traffic jams as I used to be.

But I have been thinking about those conversations over work on Saturday, what people were going to do with their three days off ( two and half since we were all working Saturday morning)  Some people talked about BBQs some talked about sleeping in. I thought about the mountains of cleaning I needed to do in preparation for a friend's overnight visit.  My back bedroom is really a storage area these days.  Sigh. We did get a lot sorted and tossed and ready to donate to the Vietnam Veterans. Still I can't help circling back to this day and it's meaning:

For a lot of people Memorial Day has lost its' true meaning.  Is it another long weekend?  the start of Summer? the Indy 500?  Well all of those things happen and are partial true, but I am working hard to bring to mind the real reason for this "holiday",  it is to remember those who died in service to this country.  It is not a day to thank service members for their service. The day set aside for THAT is Veterans Day in November or Armed Forces Day on the 3rd Sunday in May.  Truthfully ANY day is a good day to thank service members for their service, but THIS day honors the memory of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

In the 70's, people wore bracelets with the names of POW's in the Vietnam war, to bring attention to their plight and to remember every day the person who was a prisoner.  I was against the war, but wanted to honor the people who were caught in between. My bracelet had the name  Captain Clifford  Fieszel. I wore it and when it broke I got a replacement with his name.  He was a pilot who was shot down. The Vietnamese said the had captured him, but there was never any proof and he never came home . His name is on the wall, and there is a grave in his memory, but he was never found.  I think of him and others like him, this Memorial Day.  As they lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown, I think of families who never knew the fate of their loved ones and of families who buried family coming home in a flag draped coffin. 

This is a solemn holiday; one for reflection and prayer.  Sure, have that BBQ , but take a moment today to thank those who died in service to this county to make what we have possible.