This Memorial Day weekend, don’t forget to pause and think about the loved and lost who died defending our country. And please don’t fail to include in your prayers those they left behind. Often it is the wives, children, mothers and fathers who pay the dearest cost, for while the dead have already gone to their reward, families must live the horror every day of their lives.

Some Memorial Day weekend reading: Here’s a short but moving article by a military chaplain assigned to make notification visits to the homes of those killed in action.

Myrna Blyth reminds us that Monday is not just a day off. It is a solemn civic holy day. She has some suggestions for putting the “memorial” back in Memorial Day.

Here’s the text of President Abraham Lincoln’s speech at Gettysburg, perhaps the greatest American oration of all time. If it’s been some years since you read the Gettysburg Address, this is the perfect weekend to review it.

After spending too much money on steak and lobster, go online and make a donation to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, a private charity that is building a rehabilitation hospital for servicemen who have lost limbs in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why is a private charity filling this need and not the federal government? Real good question.

When you’re done reading and donating, why not send a message to a soldier, sailor, airman or marine serving right now? You can send those messages here and here.

Though not in uniform, we also serve when we remember the dead, aid the wounded, comfort the grieving and help lift the morale of our troops. This Memorial Day, do something for the United States of America by doing something for them.

(Mark Gordon)

This entry was posted on Friday, May 26th, 2006 at 3:53 pm and is filed under War & Peace, Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.