Memorial Day

 

 

So it’s Memorial Day, and what do you say?

 

Happy Memorial Day?

 

Visit Arlington National Cemetery and you’ll know that it is an honored place, a quiet place, a clean place and even a beautiful place -- but not a happy place. Some there served their country and lived full lives afterward. Some there served their country and got no afterward.

 

Today we honor those who served whether they now lie in Arlington’s ranks or other cemeteries across the world or simply where they fell.

 

We will sing patriotic songs, watch stirring parades, listen to oratory that soars and oratory that drones, sometimes mixing a memory with a tear and sometimes with a smile. But we’ll do it to honor these American men and women we know to be at rest and hope to be at peace.

 

But that’s a job only half done. We have honored our dead. How about the living?

 

Active-duty and reserve members of the armed forces number some 2.3 million, volunteers all. Their work is important, often difficult and obviously dangerous. They do it with distinction and at personal sacrifice.

 

Honor those who lie in Arlington and elsewhere even more by honoring those who wear our country’s uniform and walk among us. Say hello, say thanks, buy a burger or a beer, give a handshake or a hug, a laugh, a giggle, a smile, directions, a ride – anything that might show them we know that they’re doing a good job for us.

 

And they are.

 

We need to remind ourselves to also do some good for them

 

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Looking for a way to help? Start with the USO, which has been helping men and women in our armed services since 1941. http://www.uso.org/howtohelp/