Is it a matter of ignorance, self absorption or just plain I don’t care?

I’ve already been warned that I would lose friends and votes if I wrote about this matter but since I have never traded what I believe is right for votes why start now. Most of my friends are patriots and they will understand and agree.

Last year at graduation I was disgusted by the lack of respect shown by many during the presentation of the colors and playing of the National Anthem.  This week I attended a graduation ceremony in Franklin and found much the same attitude of disrespect for our nation and its people. I wish I could say it was only younger people that continued to keep their caps on and yak on the phone and to each other during the National Anthem, but sadly group included people old enough to know better but chose not to do better.

Now, I come to the saddest part Observance of Memorial Day. While I believe that our military Veterans  should be honored and respected every day Memorial Day is not about Veterans but those who have died, both military and civilians,  in the service of our nation. A Memorial Service is in honor of the dead and the conduct should be appropriate to the dead. Can you imagine the uproar that would be created if politicians stood at the doors of Carr and Erwin or Giles County Funeral Home or any place else where a funeral was being conducted and were actively campaigning for election? The behavior of some candidates at the Memorial Service Monday on the Recreation Center  grounds is deplorable. I’m not talking about candidates that were there to simply take part in the services but those who were passing out literature for their campaign. Equally bad is a county executive that sits with her husband away from the crowd and watches the interaction with other who might be friendly to her opposition.

Does the Flag, The National Anthem and remembrance of the dead who sacrificed so much no longer matter, are those things that symbolize our freedom now so insignificant that they n longer matter? I have a hard time believing that they are insignificant to the woman whose eyes still fill with tears at the thought of her husband, brother or child who died in the snows and mud of Europe, the steaming heat of a Pacific island, the bitter cold of Korea, the jungles of Viet Nam or deserts  in the Middle East or a thousand other places where our defenders have laid down their lives. I find it inconceivable that these things have become insignificant to the guy who stares into the reflection of “The Wall” and cries like a baby as he remembers a Brother that died in his arms.  We have not taught our children well the lessons of freedom nor have we remembered the sacrifices that gave life to those freedoms. 

Refusing to stand and respectfully behave during the playing of the National Anthem is disrespectful to the entire nation of citizens and to disrespect  Memorial Services is to disrespect every single person who made that ultimate sacrifice.