Memorial Day

By my reckoning, this is the third time since I began this blog that the Memorial Day holiday has fallen on the day it was originally intended to occur, before it was co-opted by the greedy fucks in the retail and tourism industries. So my usual rant is on hold until next year, Lord willing.

We ought to dispense with the phrase "they gave their lives". Few willingly set forth to die in combat. The intention, then and now, has been to serve one's country and, at least for now, to defend freedom.

Unfortunately, war goes on. National leaders continue to believe that they can achieve policy goals by conquering other nations and subjugating them.[1] There are those who believe that the answer to aggression is not fighting back. I am not aware of a single time when an invasion of one country by another was defeated by pacific resistance.

As long as politicians think that war is the answer to a diplomatic problem, then we will continue to send young people into combat, continue to add graves to military cemeteries and continue to have more honored dead to remember on Memorial Day.
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[1] George W. Bush and Vladimir V. Putin come quickly to mind.