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| VietNam War Memorial - Washington, DC |
The
following excerpt is from a post written by Dan Doyle on The Veterans Site Blog. It says it all:
Why, then, should we
all remember [Memorial Day]?
It is not wars that we are remembering with this national holiday. Rather, we are remembering those who served and those who gave their last full measure of devotion in order to insure that the freedoms that this country offers to all would be able to be passed on to the next generations. We remember them because they tell us something of our human dignity. They remind us of the cost of freedom and of the quality of our character as a nation. We do not gather on this holiday to glorify wars. Rather, we are challenged to remember that when war comes unbidden to us, there are those who are willing to give their all to defend this nation. Deep down we want to remember in the hope that we will find ways to prevent wars and never again have to fight them again. There is, among veterans, no more hoped for desire than the desire that their own sons and daughters will never have to suffer the terrors of war, or the effects of war.
All veterans hope and pray that their war will be the last war.
Thank you, Dan Doyle, for this poignant reminder.
Dan Doyle is a husband, father,
grandfather, Vietnam veteran, and retired professor of Humanities at Seattle University. He taught 13 years at the
high school level and 22 years at the university level. He spends his time now
babysitting his granddaughter. He is a poet and a blogger as well. Dan holds an
AA degree in English Literature, a BA in Comparative Literature, and an MA in
Theology, and writes regularly for The Veterans Site Blog.
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