Monday, May 30, 2005

8:00 a.m.

 

Today is another national holiday. Few people really consider what Memorial Day is all about. Holiday ’s do take a toll on people. It is much harder to go back to work because people simply overdo it when there is a three day weekend. How many people truly know how to stop and think? So many do not have a clue as to what is really important. The true thinkers are those who have been forced to.

 

This day does have meaning to me, but it’s not in the same way as the people I see. What if there was a day to memorialize those we have lost? Why don’t we have a day in honor of those who have been taken from us? Instead, we have a day to honor only those who have been killed defending the country. How personal is this if you never lost someone in a war? We love pomp and ceremony, but why do we as a nation not stop for just one day a year and mourn for those we have lost in our lives? Perhaps people couldn’t handle it. This country is really incapable of being serious about anything. So many people have a party attitude and today really is a day to be lazy and sleep in if we would only be brutally honest with ourselves. Perhaps not for everyone, but overall it is true.

 

Yesterday, I spent 8 hours working on the memorial garden. More flowers were added and a few replaced. The most sobering facet of the garden is the plaque with Linda’s name. It is the centerpiece and a sobering reminder of what the garden is all about. A number of people have told me Linda sees it, and yet if it is true, than why doesn’t she say something? She definitely would not stay silent when “looking down” and seeing what has been done in her honor. Too many clichés are stated without people stopping to ask if it really makes sense. Linda is simply resting in her grave and is waiting to be resurrected at the return of Christ.

 

God has achieved a purpose in the last two years. It’s as if He specifically reached down and allowed a humbling process to take place in order for the character He desired to be achieved in Linda before she died. It struck me when reading Linda’s journal how she would question God and yet still realized she had to stay loyal to Him. This is what true courage is. This is what this Memorial Day means to me. Linda fought her battles and yet the nation doesn’t honor people like her, but I do.