Before considering what to write, or whether to write at all, about Memorial Day, I took a look at my post from last year.  It was a brief post, but made its point:

The catch phrase today is that freedom is not free.  But what is this freedom that is worthy fighting, and dying, for?  To show our respect for those who gave their lives for freedom, those of us who remain should be willing to stand up for that freedom and defend it.  We don’t fight for a particular President.  We don’t fight for a political party.  We don’t fight for some transitory policy.  We fight for enduring freedom.  Don’t give up the fight.  Take a moment today to think about it.  Others have given their lives for it.  It’s not much to do.

A year has past, and nothing has changed.   Young people are still dying in Iraq, and we’re still listening to people whose lives are not at risk debate about whether and when they can be brought home.  We’ve paid the price, but are still watching freedom ebb away.

A new factor has come into play this Memorial Day.  The ones who return from Iraq find themselves without jobs or the ability to fill their car with gasoline.  Before worrying about such existential concepts as freedom, people need to know that they can feed their children.  They don’t know whether they can, or for how long.

Everyone will say they honor the dead.  It’s the thing to do.  But speaking nicely of their sacrifice does little to change the fact that young men and women have died for their country.  And dead they remain.  And if we are no better for their sacrifice, then one has to doubt that it was sacrifice worth making.

It’s not their fault that nothing has changed between Memorial Day 2007 and now.  It’s ours.  They already gave of themselves.  If we truly honor their sacrifice, then it must be shown be more than kind words.  So this year, no more cheap talk on the back of dead kids.