I've always thought to myself, "Why do we have two patriotic holidays so close together? It seems redundant to have Memorial Day and then the Fourth of July." I never meant it with a bad attitude; I had just never thought about the difference. Today, it hit me that the Fourth of July is about our country, and Memorial Day is about our people.
Now that I have this difference in my mind, it makes all the sense in the world! We NEED a day, separate from "God Bless America" and "My Country Tis of Thee," to really dwell on the fact that human lives and souls fought, bled, and died to maintain the freedoms we love (and take for granted). Like I mentioned in a previous post, these soliders were (and are) people, and they mean the entire world to their families and loved ones.
I feel so blessed and fortunate to live in a nation where men and women will leave the comfort of their couches, enlist, go through tremendous stress and physical turmoil at bootcamp, and serve in conditions that leave them emotionally battered. It conficts me and leaves me so humbly thankful.
To those of you who are military wives/mothers/sisters/friends, THANK YOU. I want to thank you for being the support system in so many ways for these dear military personnel. Kurt, Evy Kate, and I appreciate you and YOUR service to our country.
I have no illusions about what little I can add now to the silent testimony of those who gave their lives willingly for their country. Words are even more feeble on this Memorial Day, for the sight before us is that of a strong and good nation that stands in silence and remembers those who were loved and who, in return, loved their countrymen enough to die for them.
Yet, we must try to honor them -- not for their sakes alone, but for our own. And if words cannot repay the debt we owe these men, surely with our actions we must strive to keep faith with them and with the vision that led them to battle and to final sacrifice.
-Ronald Reagan
