In the United States of America today is Memorial Day. It is a day in which we are to remember those in the armed services and those who paid the ultimate price. I am going to ramble a bit here so bear with me.

Recently I read an article on the web where it spoke about how the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are not getting enough coverage so they are unreal for many people. First off I have to ask what news coverage they are watching. I mean I see it all the time, but maybe I am more sensitive to it. One point was that people are not given the opportunity to get a sense of what our soldiers are going through daily. Again I have to ask really? This isn’t the land before Vietnam. There are multiple cable stations devoted to  our troops stories. Are we seeing coverage on the nightly news like in the Vietnam war? No, we aren’t, but the information is out there. Try YouTube for goodness sake.

The sad part of all of this is that the point that the article made is that coffins and funerals of our soldiers are not on the nightly news. My GOD is that what they really want? Is that what people need to make this “real” for them? As the sister of a fallen soldier let me address that desire. If to make the wars real to people the caskets and grief of our family have to be played for the world as a political statement all I can say is freaking get a life. Take the imagination that you use for all aspects of your life and apply it here. It isn’t all that difficult.

In my country our Armed Services are all voluntary. The men and women who wear our uniforms are incredible people. I will always remember a conversation I had with Sean the last time I saw him. We were talking about Iraq and I stated that I didn’t understand how people could refuse to look at the picture and to refuse to think about. My little brother turned in to the Captain of the United States Army at that moment and told me “They don’t have to. That is why we are here. We do our job so they can live their lives in peace.” Talk about a wow moment. First I gained tremendous insight in to how these men and women think and I saw the man and leader that my Boo Boo had become.

Let me wrap up with this: On this Memorial Day take a moment to remember those who serve. After that I ask that we civilians step up and think. It is time for us to share the burden of our Armed Services. They need us just as much as we need them.