"Their Last Full Measure of Devotion"

As I enter the Memorial Day weekend, I am preparing to remember and to honor the dead who died for our country and our best ideals.

As one who believes most wars are preventable and are the results of greed, power grabbing, and injustice, I know that none of those motives define those who serve out of a sense of duty and love of country.

We must differentiate.

The sailor, soldier, or others in uniform do not and should not make policy in that capacity.

How do we best honor them?

I think the little things and small gestures matter - the songs, the symbols, the spoken words, the patriotic sentiments, but sentimentalism is empty if it is not rooted in meaning.

We must work for justice and labor for peace. We must advocate for what we believe is right and what promotes quality of life and dignity of humanity. We must exercise our freedom to participate in the decisions that affect the lives of those who serve and all other lives.

We honor, as the song says, "young men who died for old men's wars."

Young men and young women.

It is up to the old to make it less necessary.

As we remember, honor, and care for them, let us also do all we can to make a peaceful world.

It starts here and now.