This Memorial Day I am..confused.

[Vessol]

I wanted to make this topic so I don't derail the other Memorial Day topic.

At work today and in the car I was thinking of Memorial Day.

One thing I hear over and over again when Memorial Day is talked about is thanking those who have served and protected and those who are currently doing that.

However, this of course leads me to the thought of "How are they serving me" or more importantly "How are they protecting me?"

I'm told that it is a day to remember those who fought to protect me. But I always want to ask people, what are they protecting me from?

I've asked this before to people I know in person and always get dirty looks.

Is it a day where we remember those who gave their lives..for what?

What in your opinion is Memorial Day about?. I'd like to hear your own thoughts so perhaps I can work my own thoughts.

Please stay respectful, or at the very least civil.

[torchbearer]

i cringe everytime someone says "they died for our freedom" when referring to dead soldiers of iraq and afghanistan.
out of respect for those who don't know any better, i keep quiet.
It makes people feel better to think their child died for our noble defense than to realize they were just more meat for the meat-grinder of the military industrial complex money machine.

There are those who have died so that we can have freedom, i honor them. I also include non-service members who died and/or imprisoned for standing up against tyranny in our country.

[Baptist]

Just another holiday on the calendar that I don't observe. Along with July 4th, Labor Day, Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Years.

[0zzy]

Just another holiday on the calendar that I don't observe. Along with July 4th, Labor Day, Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Years.

dang! party pooper! No Christmas, Thanksgiving, or New Years? No fireworks on the 4th?

I know who's house I'm avoiding during the holidays! :)

[QueenB4Liberty]

i cringe everytime someone says "they died for our freedom" when referring to dead soldiers of iraq and afghanistan.
Out of respect for those who don't know any better, i keep quiet.
It makes people feel better to think their child died for our noble defense than to realize they were just more meat for the meat-grinder of the military industrial complex money machine.

There are those who have died so that we can have freedom, i honor them. I also include non-service members who died and/or imprisoned for standing up against tyranny in our country.

+1776

[lynnf]

I wanted to make this topic so I don't derail the other Memorial Day topic.

At work today and in the car I was thinking of Memorial Day.

One thing I hear over and over again when Memorial Day is talked about is thanking those who have served and protected and those who are currently doing that.

However, this of course leads me to the thought of "How are they serving me" or more importantly "How are they protecting me?"

I'm told that it is a day to remember those who fought to protect me. But I always want to ask people, what are they protecting me from?

I've asked this before to people I know in person and always get dirty looks.

Is it a day where we remember those who gave their lives..for what?

What in your opinion is Memorial Day about?. I'd like to hear your own thoughts so perhaps I can work my own thoughts.

Please stay respectful, or at the very least civil.


well, consider what happened in WWII. If Britain and the US and the USSR and other allies hadn't stopped them, the Nazis might very well have taken over the world. We'd be speaking in German now, if we could speak at all. Back in those days we could lollygag around, unprotected, then raise an army and equip it in a short time almost from scratch (something we wouldn't be able to do now), and win the war.

now we keep a standing army with pretty good equipment and we can respond fairly quickly when needed so that if someone like the Nazis threaten, we're more ready than before WWII. this is even more important in the nuclear age. training and retention of personnel help us to be ready for the next boogey man.

who might be the new boogey man? for awhile it was the Russians, now it can be the Chinese, or it might be the Russians again sometime. or it could even be the UN.

it might be helpful for you to consider the origins of Memorial Day. it originally started (by one account) with the women of the South along the end of the War Between the States, it was called Decoration Day. a greater percentage of the Southern men were gone than the percentage of Northern men. back then, they didn't have TV, movies, sports, etc and they were more connected to the land and to each other.

it was more to them than just hamburgers, hotdogs, american flags, and crepe paper.

for the Yankee version of the origins of Memorial Day:

http://womenshistory.about.com/cs/holidays/a/memorial_day.htm

[heavenlyboy34]

I prefer the old "Decoration Day", back before "The (not-so)Great War". Memorial Day is too often used to defend standing armies and warfarism. :(

[qh4dotcom]

I wanted to make this topic so I don't derail the other Memorial Day topic.

At work today and in the car I was thinking of Memorial Day.

One thing I hear over and over again when Memorial Day is talked about is thanking those who have served and protected and those who are currently doing that.

However, this of course leads me to the thought of "How are they serving me" or more importantly "How are they protecting me?"

I'm told that it is a day to remember those who fought to protect me. But I always want to ask people, what are they protecting me from?

I've asked this before to people I know in person and always get dirty looks.

Is it a day where we remember those who gave their lives..for what?



They aren't protecting you...if they were do you think Ron Paul would be opposing what they are doing in the Middle East?

If I thought the soldiers were protecting me, defending my freedoms, my rights, etc. I would appreciate what they are doing...but there's no proof of that...no proof that the terrorists they are fighting against who are 6,000 miles away are going to apply and be approved for a US visa or sneak across the border and travel to the small city where I live (and not anywhere else) and attack me. If no terrorist is coming to the small city where I live the soldiers really aren't protecting me, period. If you want to give credit to someone for protecting me, then give credit to my local policemen (not the soldiers) who arrest the armed criminals running around my neighborhood who are much more of a threat to my
freedom and safety than some far away terrorist who's never coming to a small city nor going to set a foot on US soil. There has never been a terrorist
attack in the small city where I live and I'm not that dumb to believe that there will be a terrorist attack in the future. I will win the lottery before
that happens. By the way, I am not too happy with my local cops, just using them as an example.

[Scofield]

well, consider what happened in WWII. If Britain and the US and the USSR and other allies hadn't stopped them, the Nazis might very well have taken over the world. We'd be speaking in German now, if we could speak at all.

That is such a load of horse shit.

The United States of America will NEVER be conquered from a foreign foe. Ever. Ever. Never. NEVER EVER!

We were separated from Europe by thousands of miles of ocean. The only way in was through the coasts, through Canada, or through Mexico. Germany never could have gone through our Navy or gone through Canada or Mexico without our Military and the Canadian/Mexican military cutting them off. The idea that the United States could ever be conquered from the outside is absolutely ridiculous.



The last generation of American soldiers to fight for our freedoms fought during the Revolutionary War era (and the small wars afterwords (ex: 1812)). You can say that Civil War soldiers fought for our freedoms, but I don't see it that way. The North was fighting for a strong union (not for our freedoms), and the South was fighting for State's rights and for slavery.

The people who now fight for our rights are citizens. It isn't the Military which fights for our freedoms, and it hasn't been the military since the Revolution (and even then, a lot of those were farmers and citizens, not soldiers). Every day people who stand up to the government, who protest, who engage in civil disobedience, who march, who run for office to alter government policy; these are the people who fight for our rights. Not guns for hire.

[RonPaulwillWin]

dang! party pooper! No Christmas, Thanksgiving, or New Years? No fireworks on the 4th?

I know who's house I'm avoiding during the holidays! :)

Hey, at least he gets his groove on during cinco de mayo :D

[angelatc]

dang! party pooper! No Christmas, Thanksgiving, or New Years? No fireworks on the 4th?

I know who's house I'm avoiding during the holidays! :)

Well, if you want to come over here, we'll just make up a new holiday if there isn't a real one to celebrate. Ozzyween or something.