It seems appropriate and useful to set aside a day each year to honor soldiers who have died in the course of their service, as well as providing an opportunity for the surviving veterans to share their experience. I am a little irritated, though, when some veterans' group spokesman inevitably says "We are doing this so people don't forget those who died".
I always wonder who the spokesman has in mind who is so forgetful. Families and friends of the fallen certainly do not have the luxury of forgetting; they carry the loss and grief on through all the years of their lives. It also seems to me that it would be appropriate at the same time to recognize the suffering and loss among the non-combatants who are caught in the crossfire between warring sides; they always number in the thousands in any conflict and their survivors' grief is just as real.
So let's pause to remember the costs of war including all the human suffering, and maybe also give some thought to the flawed attitudes and politics which lead to massive carnage with such regularity.
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Don't forget the brave "patriots" who march around in their play-soldier militia groups and drive trucks to Washington, DC, to protest the horrifying imposition of wearing masks - while meanwhile, real soldiers in Ukraine are getting wounded and dying as they beat back one of the most powerful armies to mount an invasion in the 21st century.
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