This past Monday was Memorial Day. Memorial Day is many things to many different people. For some it’s a day off work. For others, it’s a day to celebrate summer and grill out or head to the local lake or beaches.
Many others take the time to remember and honor lost loved ones who gave the ultimate sacrifice and died while serving in the U.S. Military.
Since most of my family members either are currently still serving or have served in branches of the armed forces, I understand the importance of the day. I’ve been extremely blessed to know none of my family died while in the line of duty. The big-man-upstairs gets continued praise from me on that note.
This year, when I thought about Memorial Day, I started thinking about just how many people have given their lives because they loved their country and wanted to defend our beliefs and the things we hold dear as Americans.
Then I wondered why.
Locally, we have been in the middle of arguments on social media about various recent events and arrests. Everyone and anyone have become obsessed with the idea of throwing their ideas into the mess. Each person seems to want to be “louder” than the person before them. It goes on and on in a flood of comments.
Why?
And why would someone volunteer to go into military service and defend these people’s rights? Because that’s what they are doing. They are standing up for your freedom.
Not every country has the privilege of freedom of speech. Russia is an example. North Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, all are too. There is real strife, real wars, real suffering, real bombings, real government overreach into people’s lives in these countries. Mexico is still lost in a drug war forcing desperate people to our borders begging to get out. Everyday thousands of people are searching for a way come to our country because of our freedoms and laws.
So why are we all so seemingly ungrateful? Why does it seem like we are too occupied with arguing on social media sites? Why do we feel the need to argue about these petty disagreements?
It is my dearest wish we could go back to the days of forcing people to speak face-to-face. Most of these disagreements would be dissolved before they ever happened because when people can’t hide behind a keyboard, they are forced to see the person in front of them. But there again in the “good old days” if there was a big disagreement, people could yell face to face and the pent-up anger usually explodes and seeps away.
So this past Memorial Day, I think I mourned more for what our country use to mean to people. There is a reason people aren’t signing up to serve in the military like they used to do. And I’ll tell you my opinion on why. I don’t think people are as inspired as they once were. And I’ll tell you this, too, I think we’re the problem. As long as we keep losing more and more of what gives us our “American Spirit” by being caught up in social media pettiness, we aren’t being the country worth fighting for anymore.
