Remembering when Others Forget

What is Memorial Day?  I can tell you one thing:  Not a day goes by that I don’t remember my Granddad.  With remembering him, I remember our cribbage games, his stories, his characteristics, his expressions, and of course his service and sacrifice.  I remember the things he taught me about people, life, giving, doing.  I wouldn’t be who I am without him.  My life reflects him.

So why is there one day out of the year to remember people like him?  I’m not really sure.  Maybe because it’s too time-consuming to go to the cemetery more frequently to sing, pray, read, and show appreciation to the great men and women who have gone before us.  Maybe it’s because it’s not feasible to gather extended family more often by the lake to spend time chatting, sharing stories, fishing, eating, and spending quality time together.  Maybe it’s because it’s not easy to put flags up by graves.  Or maybe it’s because without one nationally-recognized day, most people wouldn’t remember at all.

How could you forget?  How could you ignore the sacrifices and the lives of the people who built this nation?  The people who fought to give us freedom?!  The people who gave everything that was asked of them, and often more—often their lives, so that we can live the lives we have.  How could you forget?

Memorial Day isn’t for me—It’s for you who would forget without it.  So please:  Learn about the people who we need to remember, and never forget them.  Our nation—our lives—are a reflection of the sacrifices made by other men and women.  Take Memorial Day to learn about them, and take the rest of the days of the year to remember them.  And don’t you dare forget.