by CCDC Chairwoman Charlotte Valyo
No matter how much I want to look forward to simple, old-fashioned Memorial Day of flags and hot dogs, this year I can’t.
There are too many dead we must honor and the honoring itself becomes too painful.
I am so appreciative of those who have served this country, kept it safe, died so that we may live. My family history is filled with those who served, and I am sure your family has its members who served and sacrificed.
We should all pause to remember them. We should salute the flag as the parade passes by and we should be humbled by all the flags on the graves we grace with flowers and tears.
But this year, we should go beyond honoring and remembering. We should spend this holiday reflecting on what we wish our nation to be.
We should be asking ourselves what we are doing for those who have served, and survived, but who are deeply scarred physically and emotionally. Are we truly doing all we can across the nation, in our states, in our communities to care for them after their service has been given?
We live in political times where much is given to the implements of war and too little to caring for those we have sent to wage it.
We must also ask ourselves if, this year, it is time to stop being at war with ourselves, to stop waging a war which bloodies little children beyond identification, save through DNA.
We must ask ourselves if it is time to leave behind the twisted and antiquated arguments around the Second Amendment and the right of every American, in 2022, to own what amount not to “arms” but to deadly implements of war.
Just as important though, is we must ask ourselves “if now is not the time, then when will the time be?” I think we know the answer to that.
As a Democrat looking forward to November and beyond to 2024, I can only follow one path. That is the path to ensuring we have a just and compassionate nation that honors not just those who have served, but those who have suffered.
This Memorial Day I will thank those who have sacrificed for us, but I also will be thank in advance those who are willing to show the courage to truly make us a compassionate and caring nation.
