Memorial Day more than any other American holiday represents the men, women and even children who sacrificed their lives, and sustained life-long injuries for our country. These were and are people who came from small towns, big cities and from America's farm land.
They are strangers to many of us.
We know them only by their military designation, soldier, sailor or marine. Yet their cultural, religious and family traditions and values are very much part of them. We glean something about the strangers we honor through speeches and stories.
Special events planned for Memorial Day also reflect traditions and cultures from which these strangers may have come, adding to the rich diversity of our Country. Festivals of Greek, Italian, Irish, African, Spanish, and Puerto Rican foods and customs, among others, can be found at exhibits and fairs held to commemorate the day.
Cemeteries are awash with graveside flags and flowers. Re-enactors from wars, foreign and our own, which took the lives of those we remember are part of the historical montage and sometimes include boy scouts, police and fire men along with local dignitaries.
Memorial Day is a quiet, reflective holiday even though it often symbolizes the opening of beaches and amusement parks that are filled with noisy fun-loving crowds.
Memorial Day reminds neighbors and family and this Nation to put political and geographic differences aside and to remember those who have sacrificed so much for all of us and the diversity they honored and symbolize.
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