Memorial Day poem (1978) by Straycat

[straycat]

As I look to the stars I just gaze
As I look to the heavens I am in a daze
As I look to some people who are not yet free
I see a land that people sometimes do not see
What makes freedom?
What makes a man?
What does make a country?
Our country, the land of opportunity,
Because of the men and women who serve and protect
Sometimes a country can forget or neglect
Sometimes a country can turn away and not see
I will remember my brothers who served our country
I will remember the family’s who lost all and have cried
I will remember our brave ones who fought and died.
Sometimes we are lost for words and we can’t think of a thing to say
Today is not just another day…it is Memorial Day

 

[06RangerXLT]

 

[Tominator]

http://khu.sh/songify_4fc41202d7de7&v2

 

[doorgunner]

Memorial Day 2013.....re-visiting straycat's thread....

only a couple days away......

prayers for the families who are without their brave loved ones and brave friends until God reunites them....

 

[straycat]

Memorial Day 2013.....re-visiting straycat's thread....

only a couple days away......

prayers for the families who are without their brave loved ones and brave friends until God reunites them....

Same here, DG. America has a lot of heros winning our freedom. Let's not forget them. This is their day.

 

[doorgunner]

Same here, DG. America has a lot of heros winning our freedom. Let's not forget them. This is their day.

What's so sad is.......Memorial Day is for those who never got to see or enjoy the Freedom that they fought for.

Salute to the Men & Women who have become memories of war.

 

[Will]

To me, Memorial Day is for my Great-Uncles who were raised by a drunk, went off to the Pacific as young marines, the ones who came back turned to drinking to deal with their demons and died young by burning themselves up in accidental fires, drowning in mud or having heart attacks fighting their way home from the bars through rough country. Memorial Day is also dedicated to my mother, their niece, who had these people living with her as she grew up, her own mother, sister to these vets, trying to help her siblings while putting pressure on her own family. And Memorial Day is for my brothers and myself, raised by a mother that grew up in an intrusive environment--a clinic for PTSD patients that the government should have been looking after.

You know what--the effects of war last for many generations. It's not as simple as plucking someone out of a family and then putting flowers on their grave. Because of WW2, I have a mother that doesn't want to live near me and my children. Since then, we have Korea, Vietnam and many other adventures that have driven deep spikes of influence into our national psychic. It makes you wonder about people from other countries that think it's fine to start shit with America because we aren't mentally tough enough to take it. Guess what? Most of us are in some way dealing with the effects of long past wars. We've been fighting them constantly since the last half of the 19th century--before the Civil War. Almost every American has been effected in some personal way by war and might not even know it.

To me, Memorial Day isn't just a day to decorate graves with little plastic flags. The impacts of war make huge wound cavities in our population that extend far beyond the immediate families of deceased service people.