Memorial Day Poem: Why?

Why?
Is no war ever an end to all wars?

Does every era suffer from some sort of war?

Why do "men" get so excited at the very prospect of war?

Why is the "glory" so much more newsworthy than the caskets coming home and the dreadful horror?

Why can't people work things out in the beginning so they don't become war material?

Why do rulers believe they must overpower the world for themselves?

Just ask those men and women who were separated from their families. Sometimes it was a few months, or, it could have been years. Perhaps as currently, they live like a yo-yo, being called upon to go back again and again.

Families are devastated. Earning powers are ruined. Minds and health are riddled with woe.

But our country will continue to fight. Our military will continue to do their best. We will continue to decorate graves and honor the dead.

Let us honor their willingness to fight.

Let us be grateful that our country was saved from tragic overrun because of these men and women.

Let us thank families who lost their loved ones in the name of war.

Let us take time to feel the walls and touch the names etched in those walls forever.

Let us buy a meal or shake the hand of an American in uniform or take time to help their families.

Once again it is Memorial Day. My Grandma said it should be called Decoration Day and we should take time to decorate the graves and observe a moment of silence in their honor. She said, "the boys in WWI were gassed, and they suffered their entire lives, if indeed, they did return home."

Let us decorate these graves of those who've given their lives. Let us also decorate the graves of the unsung heroes who fought the battles from their family homes by taking on new jobs, raising a family by themselves, moving to a place foreign to them or simply doing without.

Men and women who gave their lives because of nasty hatred of war are buried here and across the sea. Old men and women march or ride in Memorial Day parades and celebrations. Many from the Viet Nam era never moved on. You will see them marching or silently standing alone somewhere along the parade route.

They fought brilliantly for their countries and personally, many lost that fight. The glory was gone forever in their young lives and for their families.

Feet and arms were blown away.
Ears did not hear.
Eyes were plucked or made sightless.
Stomachs were impaled with metal.
Heads with open eyes rolled across the battlefields.
Brains ceased to function.

Oh war, where is your glory? Old men, where are your senses? But young people will most likely forever move forward in wars, perhaps frightened or hyped, but hoping for victory.

God bless America and we pray those now serving will soon be able to come home to their families. We hope that within a few years we won't be decorating fresh graves of men and women who lost the battle. We won't see wounded young men and women, and children who've lost parents because of war tactics, standing or sitting along the streets waiting for the Honor Guard to begin the Memorial Day celebration.