Earlier this month, America honored today’s service members by marking Armed Forces Day on May 19. May will end with Memorial Day, a solemn tribute to those who gave their lives in defense of this nation.
The famous American jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., spoke of Memorial Day in these words: “So to the indifferent inquirer who asks why Memorial Day is still kept up we may answer, it celebrates and solemnly reaffirms from year to year a national act of enthusiasm and faith. It embodies in the most impressive form our belief that to act with enthusiasm and faith is the condition of acting greatly.”
Why Should We Remember Memorial Day?
Why we should remember Memorial Day may be a strange question to contemplate. But as we approach this most solemn of all American holidays, far too many of us will think only of barbecues and the kickoff to summer. How many of us will think of those service members who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we are free to do all the things we want this Memorial Day?
How many of us have a personal connection to a member of the armed forces? Do we even understand why someone joins the armed forces today?
It’s been 17 years since the tragedy of 9/11. That day became a defining moment reminiscent of the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941, “a date which will live in infamy.”
Unlike that day almost 77 years ago, the terror attacks on the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon did not result in a mass mobilization of the armed forces. Every family wasn’t personally linked to the ensuing conflict against religious extremism.
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