Living For Today - Life in Peace

it's sunday night before memorial day and I can't sleep. sundays have been rough times lately which makes no sense to me at all, but it's fact. sundays can be emotional. all day it seems my thoughts have haunted me, silly stuff but big stuff to me. of course that how we are in america, pretty self absorbed. at least I know I can be at times. my drive for this or that, the drive that gets me to the top can also cause me to forget to see other things along the way.

of course we can't see it all. that's why at times we need to stop, step outside of self, pause to remember, embrace the cliche. ritual it feels is a lost art in our world, time for peace, quite, reflection is seldom taken. lost in our own problems we tend to forget. give us an excuse and we'll shop instead. So they give us a holiday and tomorrow we will take it. Slipping my grandfathers dog-tag back around my neck I realize it's time to get serious for a minute... it's not just about me

Memorial Day is all about remembering the dead. people that gave their life in war, supporting this country. I think about all those I've lost. I think about my grandfather, who after surviving as a guerrilla warrior in WWII became a career soldier in the US military in order to bring his family, my father, the roots of my family to the states.

But we all know people that have done amazing things in their life, made sacrifices, made our lifestyle possible. I think of all the veterans of the many ages that fought to protect our nation. It seems we loose more of them every year. the sole survivor of "the last great war - the war to end all wars" past this year. of course war continues as does death. and even sadly though we find war aids death the race to the end continues. even for those that survive combat, statistics demonstrate they can expect a shorter lifespan. we need to look no further than "desert storm" to understand the effects of these stats. It's not hard to find someone that served in Iraq, and most of us can think of someone that kicked ass and survived in the first war in Iraq. for me those guys are just memories now, dying at home before their time. war simply put is not healthy. it happens and we can argue at times it has to happen. I choose however to honor those who serve and sacrifice.

So rather then getting all caught up in my head, or just getting lost tomorrow I plan to take note of tomorrow's holiday. I suggest you join too. take a moment if you will, THINK PEACE