Memorial Day
I was going to write about something else but... I can do that later, if at all. Memorial Day. It is and has become a lot of different things to different people. For some it's the 'official' start of summer. For others a reason to go to the lake, swim, boat, fish, BBQ, an excuse to drink beer or whatever. Sometimes there are even parades and what-not. Here's the Wikipedia entry for Memorial Day: Memorial Day. The day has quite a history. It goes back to the days just after the Civil War.
One of the things that has always bothered me ('bothered' is understating it a bit) about my military service since 9-11 (my period of service ended long before 9-11, by the way) is that people, upon finding out I served will thank me for serving.
"You were in the Army!?"
"Yes."
"Wow, thank you for serving!"
When I hear this I know with absolute certainty that the person asking and thanking has never served. I just do.
"You were in the Army?"
"Yes, you?"
"Navy [or what-ever], what'cha do?"
"I was [what-ever], you?"
"Oh, I was [what-ever]"
After a while we chit-chat a bit about what we did, when we did it, and where we did it and then we move on. Sometimes, more often than you'd think, in fact, it never goes past the third line and without the question.
What 'bothers' me about the first scenario is that their reply leaves out, let's go unspoken, a very significant portion of their thanks. It's the part of serving that gives the serving its true worth. Their reply should be "Wow, thank you for serving, so I didn't have to."
They never say that part.
{During my period of service I never served in combat, nothing happened. Well, actually the Grenada operation occurred during that time. However, I was stationed in Germany at the time and was not involved in it in any way.}
So this Memorial Day let me say something to those that stood, and fell, defending this nation against all enemies foreign or domestic, something that is almost never said: Thank you for serving as you did, so I and those I love didn't have to.
Keep it in mind when you crack a cold one today.
posted by Steve Mule at 3:07 AM
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