Reflections on Memorial Day...
Did you know…
Only 27% of Americans even know what Memorial Day is FOR?
Can you believe that?
For anyone who is not from the U.S., Memorial Day is the day set aside to honor our fallen soldiers…those who gave their very lives in service to this country.
To honor these brave men and women, Americans take a day off from work, make it a long weekend and spend the day getting drunk out of their heads around the grill or at the beach.
My friends, my brothers and sisters in arms…they died so we, as Americans, could have the right to IGNORE their sacrifices.
Today I spent the day in Thomasville, NC. “Where is Thomasville?” you might ask? I’ll tell you. Thomasville is a tiny little Podunk town in North Carolina…a town a little bit smaller than my living room. They are also the ONLY town in ALL of North Carolina who organized Memorial Day activities. Oh, sure…all over the country there were little services and such, but in North Carolina, only ONE TOWN had a parade, or a COMMUNITY organized Memorial Service that the TOWN paid for. I guess everyone in Raleigh, Greensboro or Charlotte was too busy getting drunk at the beach.
There is apparently a MySpace group called “Fuck The Troops”… I won’t bore you with their uninformed diatribes. I will, instead, say only this…
I will lay down my life to defend their right to defame the memories of the soldiers who have fallen. Do I agree with them? Of course I don’t. Do I think they’re all a bunch of ungrateful morons? You better believe I do. But I believe in this country, and despite the failings of our President and his staff, I believe in the ideals this nation was founded upon, even if, every day, we are assaulted by the words, sounds and images of those who would exploit those rights and privileges for their own selfish ends.
I’ll be honest with you…some nights I lie awake and wish that my name could be listed among the fallen.
That way, I would have been remembered well…and not returned home a broken shell…unable to let people get close to me again…fucking up every relationship I had…driving people who I love, and who once loved me, to abandon me out of fear, or a desire to protect themselves from the person I’ve become.
But I was not destined for Valhalla, it would seem. So now I wander, lost and hurting, broken and wounded both inside and out, wondering when I’ll stop feeling like this…
Only 27% of Americans even know what Memorial Day is FOR?
Can you believe that?
For anyone who is not from the U.S., Memorial Day is the day set aside to honor our fallen soldiers…those who gave their very lives in service to this country.
To honor these brave men and women, Americans take a day off from work, make it a long weekend and spend the day getting drunk out of their heads around the grill or at the beach.
My friends, my brothers and sisters in arms…they died so we, as Americans, could have the right to IGNORE their sacrifices.
Today I spent the day in Thomasville, NC. “Where is Thomasville?” you might ask? I’ll tell you. Thomasville is a tiny little Podunk town in North Carolina…a town a little bit smaller than my living room. They are also the ONLY town in ALL of North Carolina who organized Memorial Day activities. Oh, sure…all over the country there were little services and such, but in North Carolina, only ONE TOWN had a parade, or a COMMUNITY organized Memorial Service that the TOWN paid for. I guess everyone in Raleigh, Greensboro or Charlotte was too busy getting drunk at the beach.
There is apparently a MySpace group called “Fuck The Troops”… I won’t bore you with their uninformed diatribes. I will, instead, say only this…
I will lay down my life to defend their right to defame the memories of the soldiers who have fallen. Do I agree with them? Of course I don’t. Do I think they’re all a bunch of ungrateful morons? You better believe I do. But I believe in this country, and despite the failings of our President and his staff, I believe in the ideals this nation was founded upon, even if, every day, we are assaulted by the words, sounds and images of those who would exploit those rights and privileges for their own selfish ends.
I’ll be honest with you…some nights I lie awake and wish that my name could be listed among the fallen.
That way, I would have been remembered well…and not returned home a broken shell…unable to let people get close to me again…fucking up every relationship I had…driving people who I love, and who once loved me, to abandon me out of fear, or a desire to protect themselves from the person I’ve become.
But I was not destined for Valhalla, it would seem. So now I wander, lost and hurting, broken and wounded both inside and out, wondering when I’ll stop feeling like this…
posted by Static at Monday, May 29, 2006
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