Memorial Day, and Maybe a New Day of Mourning?

Memorial Day is a day set aside to publicly recall the sacrifices made by men and women in military uniform. It is a solemn observance, aside from the unofficial kickoff to summer and the barbecues. Flags, parades, speeches and concerts, church services and plenty of social media posts remind us of our collective debt to those who gave their lives to protect our freedoms.

Which brings me to this point: I think we should set aside a national day of observance and mourning for teachers and children lost to gun violence. Thoughts and prayers will not bring the children and teachers back, will not truly comfort those who have lost them, any more than flags and parades bring back the fallen soldiers. All of that is, at least in part, to bring their sacrifice to mind, to remind us of the debt we owe to those who have died to protect our freedoms. 

It may seem harsh, but those children and teachers have died to, at least in some context, protect "our freedom" to own weapons of mass destruction privately. If we care about those kids and teachers as much as we do about the trained professional soldiers who have died, then we should at least acknowledge their lives and what is missing from our collective society because of their loss. It is our loss. And our shame, too.

If we can't seem to provide rational gun laws, to bolster mental health screening and training, to secure our children's rights to make it to lunchtime unharmed, to allow teachers the freedom to do their job safely and without fear, then we aren't really honoring the sacrifices made by the soldiers, either. If they died to protect our right to a life worth living, then why are we not doing all we can to make sure that they did not die in vain?

Points to ponder.

C