By Ray Cardello for May 27, 2024, Season 26 / Post 36

Memorial Day is a federal holiday, but unlike all of the others that are celebrations of an event, this day is a somber day to remember the brave men and women who left the safety of their homes, often just as kids, and went off to some foreign land to battle for the freedoms we enjoy, and did not return. It is a day to pause and thank the more than one million who made the ultimate sacrifice for us.

On this day, many of us will also remember our ancestors and family who have passed, but we should do that every day. Today, the last Monday in May, Memorial Day, is a special day for those who died while wearing the uniform. What they unselfishly did for us deserves their own day of remembrance.

While researching the holiday’s origin, I came across an interesting list of things you should not do on Memorial Day.

• Don’t wish anyone a “Happy Memorial Day.” This day is not Christmas – Memorial Day was not founded in joy with the promise of bringing glee each year. …
• Don’t thank the current troops. …
• Don’t disregard its importance. …
• Don’t forget it exists. …
• Don’t let politics keep you from rendering respect.

The article explained why these five were taboo, but the gist is not to allow the day to be cheapened or lose its significance. The last item on the list got me thinking. These folks we remember today may not have understood the purpose of the war they would be a part of, and we should not judge the battles either. On this day, we remember the lost souls. There are plenty of other days to debate the whys and how these conflicts existed and why we entered the fray. Today is for the dead.

I am going to get political for a moment because that is what I do. I think that this holiday should be apolitical, but I have a problem with Liberals celebrating this day. I find it incredibly hypocritical to take the time to remember the fallen on this day and thank them for what they have preserved for us while, at the same time, doing whatever they can to bring down and destroy this great country.

These bravest died for the Red, White, and Blue, which many came back home covered with. That flag represents the vision our forefathers had for America. To degrade America or continue to push to transform Her into a Socialist country is to concede these souls died in vain. To destroy our sovereignty and allow millions of unvetted individuals from around the world to cross our border, many from countries that hate our nation, is to strip the very thing these fallen fought and died for. You cannot have it both ways. You cannot salute the fallen and say you support the living troops while aligning yourself with these people who want to end the American experiment and replace it with a system that has failed every place it has been tried.

Let’s mark this Memorial Day and truly honor those for whom we pause by pledging from this day onward that we will do everything in our power to assure that anyone elected to serve us is as American as the ones whose grave is marked by the American Flag.

God Bless you, and may He keep you in his arms, our fallen brothers and sisters.