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Memorial Day was set aside to honor our departed military heros... Not firemen, not policemen, not anyone who hasn't departed while wearing or since wearing a military uniform.
June 1, 2011
To all concerned:
These past few days there have been several times when I have taken exception to comments by some of my fellow Denmates. Generally, I’m not that kind of a guy. “To each his own” or “Live and let live.” Those are a couple of staples I have lived by. However, Memorial Day is a day set aside specifically to honor our departed warriors. It gets my dander up when people mess with that. We have two days a year when it’s designated that we do something to honor our military. Memorial Day is for those who are no longer with us and Veterans Day is to honor all those who have served, or are now serving. That’s military service. Not being a policeman or a fireman, or any other type of serving, but a veteran of our military.
I’m not saying that our policemen and firemen don’t deserve being honored for what they do, but they get paid handsomely to do it, far more than our military personnel. Besides that, they can walk away at any time… Not so for our military. I’m sure we have a lot of policemen and firemen who do it because they felt a “calling” to do so, but many of them are power drunk by the wearing of that uniform and the respect that we afford to it. I’ve experienced that phenomenon personally, many times, I know of its existence. Many others are in it for the money and the pension plan and other benefits that we taxpayers are so generous with. Again, not so for our military personnel.
My only point has been that Memorial Day is a day set aside for a specific reason. Please don’t try to make it into something that it’s not. Please don’t degrade those who have paid the ultimate price to preserve our freedom, by trying to turn their day into a day to honor those who have not earned it.
Best Regards,
Richard Lee King
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But I wouldn't mind also seeing a day set aside to honor our First Responders - police officers, fire fighters, and paramedics, who quite often also give everything they have, in the service of others.
Joy L. Hale
Donna