Use Memorial Day to Remember

Skip the malls, the beach, the boat.

Take 2 minutes to hear Harrison Wright talk about blowing taps over a valley in Belgium. Go here and click on the Play button.

Take a moment to read about what Memorial Day is about.

Now go to the cemetery and put some flowers on a grave of someone who served. If you don't know anyone, pick a stranger. He didn't know you either.

If you aren’t able to do that, just play this clip and offer a moment of silence.[1]

This is my dad's gravestone, was just placed a few days ago. This is in Laurel Hills Cemetery in Erie, PA off Sterrettania. I'll get some better shots next time I'm home. I have seven relatives there now, I think, if I'm counting correctly, all within view of each other: Cairns, Grandy and Andrews.

(I believe the reflection belongs to Art Detisch of Ericson Memorials. The three birds represent Dad’s three children – myself, Tom, and Linda.)

[1]
When I was in grade school, the issue of prayer in school was a hot topic. My 5th grade homeroom teacher at Vernondale Elementary School, Mr Veith, insisted on a moment of silence after the pledge to the flag. He said regularly that we weren’t being asked to pray, just be silent, but if we wanted to use that time to pray, that was up to us.

(This was in 1974-5 and shortly after Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) and probably would have passed the Lemon test.)

Started: 2012-05-25