I have been contemplating just what Memorial Day means to me, and as Dan suggested yesterday, what the freedom others have bought for me with their lives means to me.  It hasn’t been as easy as I thought it would be.  One thing I don’t want to do is complain, so while we all know things could be better, I intend to simply celebrate what we have now.  I will go back to complaining tomorrow.

I don’t have a direct connection to the day.  I have been lucky in that I have not lost any relatives (that I know of) to any war.  My grandfather on my mother’s side lost a leg in WWI.  My father joined the Navy at 17 and spent a few years on a destroyer chasing German subs and whatnot in WWII.  A favorite uncle fought in Korea and came home physically undamaged.  My brother volunteered for the Air Force in 1972 and fixed radios in Okinawa, and later in Germany after the U.S. left Vietnam.

Of course, I have no idea of their experiences, really, since it’s not something they talk(ed) about.  My father usually says, when he mentions it at all, that being in the Navy meant he finally got enough to eat every day.  When they served liver, he was in heaven, because most everyone else didn’t want to eat it.  He did mention the friends he lost on board the ship during attacks.  He talked about it one time and one time only.  My uncle never said a word about his experiences, and he is gone now.  My brother hasn’t said too much either, other than noting that the planes that really got shot up were the ones that flew in after an attack to take pictures.  The planes doing the attacking usually didn’t get nearly as much damage. Also, he has a soft spot for the F4 since it could take an enormous amount of damage and still make it back to base.

So, I haven’t had to make the sacrifice of losing someone I cared about to war.  However, I do my best to remember what they have done for me and for the rest of us.  We continue to have more freedom of speech, action, and self-defense than probably anywhere else in the world.  People can say things here that would land them in jail in most countries, and as P.J. O’Rourke has pointed out, not only do we not punish them, many of them are given a national forum and actually treated as if they had something intelligent to say (insert your favorite punching-bag here).  However, our freedom of speech also means that we can tell people when their opinions are stupid.  This goes for each other as well as our goverment officials.  Being able to criticize all of them without fear of reprisal, president included, is incredibly important and very rare even in Western nations.

Since I am of a conservative bent, the freedom of self-defense is important to me as well.  We as individuals have both the right and responsibility to defend ourselves and our fellow citizens from predators both human and animal.  This has been an intrinsic freedom since the founding fathers first knocked together the document that set the framework for the experiment we’ve been participating in for over 200 years, and it is one I’m very passionate about.  The number of states that support concealed carry is increasing, as are those that support castle doctrines.  In this arena our freedoms are returning to their former status, and I hope it continues.

The ability to defend oneself is directly tied to self-determinism, yet another freedom we enjoy.  People of different ethnicity, races, and religions are freer here than anywhere else in the world to better themselves.  We don’t have that perfect yet, but overall we’re doing a damn good job.  If you are willing to work hard and be self-reliant you can raise yourself to just about any height.  In most countries if you aren’t properly connected by family or caste, you can forget it. 

Naysayers, note that most people who are willing to try will raise themselves high enough to be happy and then stop.  Once one hits the comfort zone it’s time to enjoy life and take up a hobby or two.

Your life in this country is truly what you make it to be, and freedoms of speech and self-determinism (which encompasses self-defense) are some of the most important factors contributing to our lives.  People all over the world would not be trying to come here if this place weren’t great, and today is a good day to realize that if you haven’t noticed it before.

Breaking my policy of only posting exclusive material here, this was cross-posted to my site