Memorial Day has always created conflicting emotions for me. It’s the unofficial start of summer and a time to have gatherings and relax. But it’s also an occasion for solemn and somber reflection regarding those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation, and for an expression of appreciation to the loved ones they left behind.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh recognizes the significant of the last Monday in May.
“I told the guys go home and enjoy your families,” Harbaugh said, via Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com. “It may be the most important holiday of the year. Do we all enjoy getting in a car and driving where we want, doing what we want? Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. . . .
“Memorial Day, for all of the people that have sacrificed to give us the chance to live the way that we do in this country, is something that we should all be very grateful for.”
He’s right. Our current way of life represents the cumulative result of conflicts that gave birth to our country, held it together, and opposed threats to it from other governments and extreme ideologies that resent the exercise of the freedoms on which America was founded. Without the many thousands who embraced serious injury and death since 1776, this nation would not exist in its current form and possibly would not exist at all.