When I was a child, Memorial Day was simply a day to celebrate the beginning of Summer. It was a holiday filled with great food, racing, and parades.

Now the mood is quite different. The days of childhood innocence have long gone. In their place there are different days. Days of remembering. Days of loss.

When I first put on the uniform of my country's Army, I felt 10 feet tall. I was confident that my country's leaders, my fellow soldiers, and the world was of one purpose, and that was to secure liberty for us all.

Today I don't feel so tall. My country's leaders and the rest of the world are at odds. I don't know if the soldiers of today are quite so confidant now as I was then. One thing I do know though, is that they still deserve our rememberance and our support.

Here are 3 different articles posted on Common Dreams this Memorial Day. Read them and remember with me the real reason we celebrate.

Published on Monday, May 29, 2006 by The Nation
"My Soldiers, My Veterans" by John Nichols http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0529-22.htm

Published on Monday, May 29, 2006 by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (Minnesota)
"Where is the Shared Hope of Our Old Memorial Days?"
At post-WWII parades, even kids seemed to sense the relief that the war was over.
by Susan Lenfestey
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0529-24.htm

In his piece, "My Soldiers, My Veterans", John Nichols quotes Walt Whitman, and I take the liberty to repeat the last stanza here.

The moon gives you light,
And the bugles and the drums give you music,
And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,
My heart gives you love.