This year's Memorial Day

The powers that be have been kind enough to not yet cancel Memorial Day. It would not surprise me if one day I hear a story of how some blue haired gender confused kid in their late teens stands on some college campus and announces on TikTok that they are triggered by the idea that we have a day set aside to honor this nation's fallen and demands it be cancelled while standing hand in hand with some white woman who looks like she should have been buried 10 years prior. Or maybe Gretta Thunberg will connect the day to global warming and have Al and Tipper Gore petition to have it removed. Or just maybe it will be declared racist. None would surprise me anymore but I am just venting at this point.

Now with that being said I in fact have been giving more thought as of late to Memorial Day, what it means to me, what it should mean to others, and how far from what should be we have come. For some there is a very personal connection to the day as they have lost friends and family in service to this country. Other's empathize with those who have suffered loss and have a fairly clear understanding of the day and why it is important. Then there are the casual observers who can shrug it off knowing full well they'd be speaking German if their great grandfather and countless like him did not fight the good fight. Then there are the rest who treat it as just another day.

For myself the day's meaning has evolved over the years. First and second Gulf wars are done, there are no major armed conflicts, and we live in a time where the enemy at the gate threatens us with more of an economic war than one that involves guns and bombs. 9/11/2001 and 9/11/2011 feel like a lifetime ago as well. Every man that was of fighting age is old now, like me, home getting on with adulting. So how will I spend the day? I will work, I will train, and I will spend time with my family. I will though, also spend a little longer than most other days unplugged and reflecting. I'll say hi to friends that have long since departed this life and thank the countless who died for me to enjoy the life I live where I live it. No grand gestures, no large celebrations.