Memorial Day Thoughts

Memorial Day, what does it mean to you?

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Is it the start of summer for you? Is it a paid holiday for you? Do you give pause to the true meaning?

Every Memorial Day I have thought quite a bit about my father, his two younger brothers and their brother-in-law (he was married to their baby sister). As a child my father always took my mother, my younger brother and I to the local Memorial Day Parade. The sounds of taps still rings through my mind.

My father has been gone for fourteen years now. Dad always flew the flag at the house. And as I grew older and had children I took them and their mom to the local Memorial Day Parade. The kids are grown, we have moved to a small village that doesn't host many civic activities let alone a Memorial Day Parade. But, my flag still flies.

I think about my father and the "Greatest Generation". My father was 6 years old when the Great Depression struck. His siblings, 2 brothers and 2 sisters grew up in this economic hell. And before they could live a prosperous life, WWII hit.

My father and his brothers made it through WWII alive. The same cannot be said for their brother-in-law, my uncle who I never met. He was killed in action in France.

In a way I'm happy that my father, my uncles and most of the greatest generation are no longer alive to see what is happening today. They didn't risk life and limb for political disagreements to become criminal investigations. My uncle did not die for a special prosecutor to fish and fish and fish to overturn a proper election. He died for the home of the brave and land of the free.

209,000 men died on the shores of Normandy, for what? Some haggard old bitch complaining nearly two years later why she lost the election when she should have been facing felony indictments. Ambassador Christopher Stevens cannot be reached for comment.

They did die to stop fascism. Could they ever foresee that the Democratic Party is basically Hitler-Lite? I bet those that landed on the beaches of France could give first hand stories about unsafe spaces, triggering and micro-aggressions to the Trigglypuffs of the world.

Did 75,000 allied forces die in vain at the Battle of The Bulge for a caste system which features different sets of laws? Lois Learner pleads the 5th.

Is the Greatest Generation partially to blame for the society we have today? After the Great Depression, after WWII and after the Korean War did they want to protect the Baby Boomers that they shielded us too much? As a parent I can relate to the old fashion ethic that I want my children to be better off than I. But as a result of this shielding have we produced millennials that are selfish, emotional, destructive, fat and lazy? I don't have the answer. That's a thread for another time I'm afraid.

I'm thankful for my father teaching me the true meaning of Memorial Day. I'm thankful that young men and women of this country loved the USA enough to give up their lives so we could live in the greatest country the world has ever seen.

Thank you to those have passed away in service to our country.