//A FITTING MEMORIAL//
No matter what you did this Memorial Day, you have honored the men and women who died serving the United States. After all, they died to protect our freedoms, right? So don’t feel bad if you didn’t visit a cemetery, stop by a war monument or attend a special event. Be free! There is no wrong way to celebrate the many patriotic holidays that dot the American calendar. I hope that no matter what you did, you had fun and were safe. That goes for you guys outside of the States as well. Hope your weekend was great!
Having to work today, I am destined merely to honor our capitalistic economy. The company I work for has no qualms about using “Memorial Day Sale” in its newspaper advertising, yet doesn’t give its employees the day off (my office was let go at 3 p.m.). Guess what’s more important? O Almighty Dollar, how we worship Thee!
The day made me think about what the price of freedom really is. Those who paid the ultimate price deserve our respect, despite any controversy surrounding the conflicts in which they died. Today is not about pro-war, it’s about pro-freedom, pro-sacrifice, pro-humanity.
We Americans have a built-in pride that sometimes manifests itself as arrogance. Many of us truly believe we live in one of the greatest nations on Earth. Half the world hates us for this, but the American blood that helped pay for freedom elsewhere certainly buys us some credit. Take that, France! You wine-swilling croissant eaters would be speaking German today had it not been for American meddle in World War II! Au revoir, Frenchy.
Freedom also has its lesser expenses. Here’s a generalized list of things we must face to “pay for” the privilege of living in a free country:
1. Telemarketers and door-to-door salespeople
2. Spam e-mails (today’s spam nugget is a mixed-metaphor: “Pound her love muffin with your huge joystick”)
3. A creeping McSameness of the American landscape
4. Hearing the opinions and living with the actions of incredibly stupid people
5. Politicians and political campaigns
6. Taxes and jury duty
7. Having so many food choices that it’s too easy to get fat
8. Pollution and traffic jams
9. Having to take our shoes off at airport security because one nut a couple of years ago hid explosives in his footwear
10. Losing our patented sense of security in general because there are those in the world who decide to take out their fierce dissent against the American way of life in the form of terrorist attacks. They have found the pit of hell is much worse than whatever offended them in the first place.
There are so many reasons why in the end, the costs are all worth it, though. I will grant you the freedom to ponder those reasons for yourselves, but here’s a list of a few things I hold dear:
1. Breathing free air
2. Worshipping the deity of my choice
3. The distinctly American landscape that comprises a variety of people and cultures
4. American Women
5. A diverse continent of natural and manmade beauty from sea to shining sea
6. Readily available health care and medicine
7. Rock and Roll
8. Family
9. Distance from family
10. Road trips
11. Libraries
12. Pet ownership
13. Kodak film
14. The Bill of Rights (hey, at least we have one)
15. Amusement parks
16. Supermarkets
17. Reaping the genius of really smart people
18. A diverse continent of natural and manmade beauty from sea to shining sea
19. Home ownership
20. The freedom to leave the country on occasion, too
God bless America!
