The True Meaning of Memorial Day

I recently asked my young child if they knew the meaning behind Memorial Day. They answered that Memorial Day was about school being out, barbeques, pool parties and the constantly advertised sales at the superstores.  I could not blame them for answering my question that way because unfortunately our politically correct society has taken away the true meaning of Memorial Day.  Even I when explaining to my child what Memorial Day is about found myself soften the true meaning of Memorial Day so I would not scare them since we have tried not to explain what death is in complete detail to them yet. My child though understands more than we give them credit for and while I was explaining that Memorial Day is a day to remember all of the men and women who have died in a fight for our freedom they answered that the men and women who died “died for the right reasons but other people really hurt them.”  We recently took our child to a World War Two memorial and I was so impressed by my preschooler wanting to know all of the meanings behind all of the exhibits some of which were very brutal depictions of death at the beaches in Normandy. My child loves history which thrills me to no end because my Bachelors Degree is in history.  I have a goal of teaching my child the true history instead of the sterilized politically correct history that teachers are now forced to teach.

What I find though on this Memorial Day my child is not alone. Adults also do not understand the meaning of Memorial Day.  The men and women that fought and died for us have been forgotten and replaced by the neighborhood barbeque. Our country is amazing and we have all of the freedoms that we all take for granted because of the soldiers who gave their lives for those freedoms.  In our young nation’s history some of those men and women chose to fight, others were drafted but their sacrifice was all the same. We as a nation often forget that we are still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan and no matter what your political views on the wars we need to remember that every day men and women are dying and are injured fighting in those wars.  Families lose husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, and sons and daughters to keep us safe. 

So today on Memorial Day when you are going to the pool, firing up the barbeque or saving money at the local superstore remember at the very moment you are enjoying the freedom to do so someone died so you could have that freedom.