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Memorial Day musings

By: James Harrison Posted: 05/26/09 11:03pm

As bad as it sounds, I’ve never really thought about the basic nature of Memorial Day. Like many others, I’ve always simply seen it as a day off work (or not, as the case is when you work at The State News).

Honestly, the closest I’ve really gotten to thinking about its true nature is when I veg out and get absorbed into the History Channel’s marathon of “Band of Brothers.”

It’s not even as if I’m that far separated from military life. My uncle was a commander in the Navy and my cousin is an Army ranger currently on deployment in Iraq. It’s just that, for whatever reason, my family has never really gone in for that whole “honoring the fallen heroes” part of the holiday.

However, reading the article about the Lansing parade in Tuesday’s paper just brought me a feeling of massive guilt. For those who missed it, it spoke about the dwindling crowds. This year’s was particularly bad.

For whatever reason, more and more people aren’t taking the time to thank those who have put their lives on the line. I can’t even truly judge those people, because I’m one of them.

Really, the worst part is that I’m not sure that this feeling of guilt will last throughout the year. I can almost say with certainty that I’ll be doing the same nothing next Memorial Day that I’ve done on all the others.

It could be that writing this blog about my guilt is a way to assuage it. Still, at least it’s a sign that I took at least a little time this year to think about the bigger issues. 

Maybe, just maybe, it’s the first step to a proper respect for the day and what it stands for. 

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Critical

05/28/09 3:31pm
There is good reason not to shower soldiers and the military. They’re a group of hired killers whose main job has been oppressing and killing huge numbers of innocent people for decades in the interests of a small group of elites. Well-intentioned but ignorant young men and women are systematically brainwashed into thinking they can and should join this group that attempts to strip them of their critical-thinking skills and be obedient to higher command, in the process working for a war machine that inflicts great suffering and makes US citizens less safe. It is very admirable to want to sacrifice for your country, but the truth is that fighting for the US military is fighting against democracy and the values we tend to associate with a free society. ...

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