Why bother with a Memorial Day parade?

With all of the fun things Americans can do on a long weekend, why spend 2-3 hours dealing with traffic, parking, dealing with crowds and getting a decent spot just to watch some people in military uniform march by? How fun is that?

As odd as it might seem, the parade isn’t for, or about, you. It’s not even about those old and young, men and women marching down one of your streets. The parade is about those that most deserve the celebration, but having died in service to this great nation, are unable to attend.

They would be glad to deal with a terrible parking spot, downtown traffic and hordes of people crammed together, but they can’t.

Those who  have served are likely already attending or doing private memorials at the headstones of friends long lost. The families of the fallen likely have their own Memorial Day schedules.

For  the rest, maybe you had a health condition that kept you from serving. Perhaps you objected to the current administration’s use of the armed forces or just got too busy to consider the service. It doesn’t matter. There are many reasons that perhaps you didn’t serve – here’s your chance.

It’s Monday. Your boss most-likely already gave you the whole day off. Using half of it to honor the fallen is not too much to ask – not even close. Find a Memorial Day event and just show up.. that’s all. You don’t have to train, give up years of your life, be sent to God-forsaken places and face a hail of bullets. It also.. won’t kill you.

What it might do, is put a smile on the face of that vet in uniform marching down the street. It might brighten a widow’s day to see so many Americans honoring her lost husband. It might make that Father of a fallen son or daughter just a bit prouder knowing that the people of this country really do understand what his first born child gave so that they could attend .. a parade.

Isn’t just two or three hours of your full day off worth that?