Thoughts on Memorial Day

[LarsMac]

I was reflecting on the history of Memorial Day and on its meaning and intent.

I got started after listening to a sermon from the pastor at church, and then, during lunch, I saw a young man whose face bore the recent and awful scars of what could only have been shrapnel from some sort of explosive. I worked up the nerve to ask him where we was wounded. He answered that he had been in Iraq, and an IED had taken out his Humvee. He said he was luckier than his friend who suffered severe brain damage.

To look upon his destroyed face, and realize he thought himself lucky, got me thinking.

While we honor those who have given their very life and existence for their country, there are many out there who may have given even more. They come home with missing limbs, destroyed faces, and too often shattered minds, to a world who might think them "lucky" to have survived.

They can easily be passed by when we offer our respect for their fallen comrades.

So, wherever you are, today, give thought to all those men and women who put their lives on the line for your safety, and way of life.

And if you happen to meet up with one of the "lucky" ones, let them know you care about them.

[along-for-the-ride]

Wounded Warrior Project - Home

[Bryn Mawr]

Well said

Our thoughts go to those who've paid the price and our concern goes to those who are left behind - the widows, the wounded and their families.