Today is Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States that is celebrated annually on the last Monday of every May. And today, May 31, 2010 is Memorial Day. There are plenty of events happening all around the country, probably many in your local area, and especially in the nation's capital. Today is a proud day of remembrance, on which we commemorate the lives and service of the brave men and women who have fallen in service of our country.

Memorial Day is an important holiday for me personally, coming from a family inextricably linked to the US Military. Both of my grandfathers, three of my uncles, my younger brother, and my partner have all served in a branch of the US Military for one or more terms of service. And almost all of them served during wartime periods. My grandfathers were both career servicemen, and one of them proudly rose to the rank of colonel in the US Army. Thankfully, none of them were lost in the course of duty and all of them are proud to have served and remember the days they served as some of the best times of their respective lives.

Though I celebrate every Memorial Day in my own way, I find that this Memorial Day is particularly important and has serendipitously arrived on the heels of a landmark loss in the war we're committed to in Afghanistan. I have no doubt that families and loved ones far and wide, and from many different parts of the world, have been or are being affected by the ongoing war(s) that the US is currently engaged in abroad. But for many of us who are sitting safely at home, basking in the comfort provided by the men and women fighting abroad, our attention is easily drawn elsewhere and we commonly forget about those military engagements and the men and women serving our country abroad. This is especially true when the daily news is ripped right out of our worst nightmares, like the massive British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But today is Memorial Day, and hopefully we will all take a moment to remember those who have fallen in service of our country. And hopefully our attention will not be so easily drawn away from the events abroad, specifically the passage of a landmark 1,000 losses in Afghanistan and the soldier that was the 1,000th loss, Marine Corporal Jacob Leicht.