I am kind of backlogged with posts. We overlooked the fact that Bloggerstock fell on Memorial Day for those of us living in the USA. It isn’t actually Memorial Day anymore as I write this, but I thought that I should get it down while the idea was fresh. So, it is a belated Memorial Day post, and forgive me if I use the wrong tenses when referring to things in this post as I am probably not really thinking about it in relation to when it will actually be posted.
After catching up with a friend for the better part of the afternoon on Memorial Day I headed home and flipped on the television. Of the programs that were worth watching, all of them were war related. It made sense. Memorial Day is a day set aside to remember those who gave their lives for our country. Most countries in the world have similar national holidays. It is probably the most honorable of all the national holidays that we have in the USA, and yet by many it is probably one more that gets overlooked or thought of as just another day off from school.
The men an women that we commemorate on on this day deserve our respect as do all the men and women currently in the service of the nation. They fought and are fighting to preserve the ideals that make up our way of life. They are there no matter what the threat, be it war or natural disaster. They are certainly brave and giving souls.
However, when I sit and really think about it, I always come back to the question of why. Why do we humans have to wreak such terrible conflicts across the globe? Why do we, for whatever reason, always think that we are better than the next person? What makes “us” right and “them” wrong? I mean, when you really think about it, the people who are “right” are really just the people with the best fighting force, the people who “win.” How is it that in reality the side with the bigger and better army and weapons is the side that is right? Obviously in any conflict, both parties THINK they are right, otherwise there wouldn’t be a conflict. Thus, why?
Then of course you have the people who are anti-war, the pacifists, the people who just generally disagree with the government, the people who seek peaceful solutions, and a whole host of other groups. They all think they are right. The “peaceful protester” thinks that his methods are better than the “normal protester” or the riotous crowd. And of course that there is just the seeds of conflict among people who may actually be “fighting” for ultimately the same cause.
It doesn’t really matter who you are, I think that we are all guilty of thinking that we are in the right and someone else is in the wrong. Sure, there are probably time when this is true, however, there are most likely times that we have been in arguments or fights with people where both sides could equally justify their position as right. There are few things outside of math and science that actually have a clear right and wrong answer. Our day-to-day assessments of right and wrong are based on the moral code that we each live by. However, my moral code is not exactly the same as anyone else’s yet there are many people who would tell me that my morals are wrong. What makes your moral code better or more “right” than mine?
Why can’t we really just accept that everyone is an individual and that we cannot all fit in the same mold? I guess really I just find it unfortunate that we have such a need for a holiday like Memorial Day. While we should always remember and honor those who gave their lives in our defense, I would hope that some day in the future we will be able to stop adding names to the list of people to commemorate.
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