National BBQ (Memorial) Day

I am grateful that Memorial Day is more about BBQing than mourning for me. My Father and Grandfather were both in the military, but both came back just fine long before I was born. I have no close friends or family in the military now, and have never lost someone to war. In fact, military service and sacrifice is more of a theoretical concept to me. I am grateful for that because being a service member or family member of one seems like it would be really, really hard.

I am grateful that we as a Nation, and for generations, have no real concept of what it's like to be IN a war, as in LIVING on the front lines, aside from our Service Men and Women. Not like people in Germany, Japan, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somali... Sure, our Grandmothers rationed sugar and built airplanes and kids hid under desks during drills, and I don't mean to belittle that very real effort and fear... but we, as a Nation, haven't lived in bombed out cities, our infrastructure shattered, scrounging for basic supplies since, what, the Civil War in 1865? How lucky are we to have escaped the kind of terror, destruction and heartache that our Veterans have witnessed?

The closest we've come in the last 147 years to this would be the tragedy of 9/11. I visited Ground Zero when Brooke and I went to New York a few years ago. I am grateful that I had a chance to visit. You should too. Could you imagine holes like that all over your city? This week, that building shelled, next week, this neighborhood. I am grateful for the perspective that gave me. I am grateful that was in New York, and not Seattle, or L.A. where most of my loved ones are.

When I see reports about religious extremists in other countries, I am grateful that our current biggest debate here is who should pay for birth control, not that; should it even exist, should women be allowed to drive to get it, should women who seek it be punished or killed by beating or stoning, should women be forced to undergo "purity tests" before being forced into an arrange marriage at age 12 to a 38 year old man... and so, so many other things that we are so blessed to be free of here. I am grateful my daughter will not ever have to worry about any of those things. I am grateful that we have people who are so dedicated to our country and the idea of freedom that we have to share with the world that they are out there, VOLUNTARILY, every day, trying to banish the oppression and fear and someday make their biggest debate be who should pay for birth control for the free and valued women of their society.

So I fly my flag, post a poignant photo on Facebook, and say I'm grateful for our Veteran's and Service Men and Woman's sacrifice... but I'm mostly grateful that they are braver and more dedicated than I am to our country's vision of freedom and democracy for all by serving in our Military so that I and my child (and her children as well) will hopefully never really understand what Memorial Day is about for them.