We honor by our actions, not our words. Through our actions we honor those or dishonor those who made us, those who taught us, those who invested in us, those who shaped us.
As we make the politically correct noises on this Memorial day, we ask ourselves why the fallen fell, why they were willing to fall, how we feel about why they fell, and what we are willing to do to keep their dreams alive. Are their dreams our dreams?
Every soldier who has taken up arms has known all too well that their death was part of the equation. They knew it in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Cold War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War (1991), and the Iraq War (2003). They knew it equally well during the many preparatory operations, other battles and skirmishes, such as the various rebellions, interventions, and unanswered attacks such as the attack on the USS Cole. Those of us who were not asked to pay the ultimate price knew it and honor our comrades by remembering it always.
They served in all cases to preserve and strengthen the United States. We honor them when we do everything we can to continue that goal, assuming we believe it a worthy one. I believe it to be.
I believe that all who fight to achieve these goals (soldiers, politicians, and citizens) honor them by acting. I believe that all who don’t fight to achieve these goals (soldiers who refuse to fight, politicians who surrender and signal weakness to the enemy, newspapers who report state secrets unauthorized on their front pages, citizens who remain uninformed, refuse to vote, and demean the leaders who have stepped up in the hour of America’s – and, by extension, our – need) dishonor them.
Remember that on your Memorial Day picnic on your day off and reflect whether it is just another paid holiday or something more meaningful. Honor them as you would your parents, your favorite teachers, your God. Honor them by doing those things that they valued, taught, and sacrificed for. And not just on Memorial Day – from this moment on.
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