EDITORIAL REMEMBERING OUR HEROES ON MEMORIAL DAY, HONOR THOSE WHO MADE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE.WHEN Americans first started observing what's now known as Memorial Day in the late 1860s, there was no confusion or doubt about the holiday's purpose. The pain, grief and horrific hor·rif·ic adj. Causing horror; terrifying. [Latin horrificus : horr  re, to tremble + -ficus, -fic. losses of the Civil War -- America's most devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. war ever -- still seared sear 1 v. seared, sear·ing, sears v.tr. 1. To char, scorch, or burn the surface of with or as if with a hot instrument. See Synonyms at burn1. 2. the memory. Few Americans were without loved ones loved ones npl → seres mpl queridos loved ones npl → proches mpl et amis chers loved ones love npl who not only fought, but died in the War Between the States, and they took seriously the need to honor those lost souls. After World War I, the day expanded to include fallen American servicemen in all of America's wars. And when President Richard Nixon formally made Memorial Day a national holiday in 1971 amid the mounting carnage in Vietnam, there was also little mystery about the day's purpose. Sadly, that's not the case any more. Today, many Americans confuse con·fuse v. con·fused, con·fus·ing, con·fus·es v.tr. 1. a. To cause to be unable to think with clarity or act with intelligence or understanding; throw off. b. Memorial Day with Veterans Day, which honors veterans of all wars and is observed in November. This is an unfortunate, and all too common, misunderstanding. While it's good and appropriate to honor all vets, it's also crucial to pay tribute specifically to the ones who never came home. These are the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country and for all of us. Yet worse than the confusion about Memorial Day is our tendency to forget about its significance altogether. Because the day is part of a three-day weekend and marks the unofficial un·of·fi·cial adj. Of or being a drug that is not listed in the United States Pharmacopeia or the National Formulary. start of summer, we can easily get so caught up in barbecues and pool parties that we neglect to even give our nation's fallen heroes a passing thought. That is a shame. And with the ranks of those fallen heroes growing every day in battles in Afghanistan and Iraq, we have no excuse for our forgetfulness Forgetfulness See also Carelessness. Absent-Minded Beggar, The ballad of forgetful soldiers who fought in the Boer War. [Br. Lit.: “The Absent-Minded Beg-gars” in Payton, 3] absent-minded professor -- and all the more reason for gratitude. By all means, let's enjoy the day, the barbecues, the road trips, the moments with friends and family. These are the fruits of the freedom and security that our heroes died to preserve. But let's also be sure to honor them at our cemeteries, in our houses of worship, at our parades or even just around the table at our gatherings. For all they gave us, it is truly the very least we can do in return. |
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