Let Us Remember Them

Prices are rising fast on just about everything we think we want or need. Gotta pay more for those hot dogs and sodas and potato chips. Filling the tank brings tears to the eyes, causes pressure to rise and teeth to gnash.

Well, what's an American to do?

Here's a thought. How about turning our attention back to the reason Memorial Day was created? In case some of you have forgotten -- or don't know -- Memorial Day is set aside to honor the men and women in uniform who gave their lives in service to their country.

As you lament the costs of vacationing, it's worth remembering the 4,563 American servicemen and women who won't be able to take advantage of those weekend holiday sales. Or join in backyard cookouts. Or go anywhere fun. Those 4,000-plus souls were killed after answering their country's call to leave home for Iraq and Afghanistan.

It's also worth reflecting on the fact that across the Potomac River at Arlington National Cemetery are tombstones for multitudes of veterans of past and present wars, fallen warriors buried over 600 acres of hallowed ground.

Down on the Mall, not far from the Washington Monument, is a wall with the names of more than 58,000 Americans who lost their lives in the Vietnam War.

No road trips for them. Or picnics. Or family get-togethers. Maybe, if someone remembers, there will be a graveyard decoration, a flag, a flower, a note. In some places in America, here and there, maybe a parade. There will be fitting observances at Arlington Cemetery and on the Mall this weekend. But not in the minds of those looking for good sales.

I date myself, but when I was growing up, the holiday in the King household was called "Decoration Day," although that designation had been changed to Memorial Day many decades earlier. What can I say? In some households, old habits die hard.

In my day, it was also a time to decorate the graves of close family members, regardless of whether they wore the uniform. Grateful survivors knew they had sacrificed and given their all raising families and putting food on the table.

Okay, I have weighed in on this subject before [" Don't the Fallen Deserve at Least a Moment?" op-ed, May 27, 2006]. I'll probably do it again next year, if I'm still around. Because it is unseemly to race out of the house for door-buster sales, auto showrooms and the smoking grill when the day is set aside to honor those who gave their all.

Maybe it's a good thing that rising gas prices and hefty airfares are going to keep some people closer to home this year. Maybe, just maybe, there's something better to do than planning a getaway.

What's so wrong about remembering men and women who paid the ultimate price for decisions made by authorities whose paths they would never cross?