Almost always, when I pause to consider the merit of celebrating a war, I’m reminded of a quote from a movie that I cannot otherwise remember. “A moment of silence for fallen comrades? Just imagine if we had a moment of silence for every person we’ve killed here. We’d never be able to speak again.”
So whatever you do today and this holiday weekend, keep these three things in mind:
1) Have a designated driver or money for a cab. DUI accidents kill people every day and nobody likes funerals or prison.
2) Do not hold fireworks in your hand, give them to small children, or operate them while drunk. Emergency doctors have a bad job on calm days, and you don’t want to be next year’s Independence Day story.
3) Try to remember that both sides of every war are made up of brave young men and women whom have bleed and died for their beliefs. History only makes a war good after everyone that suffered in it has died.
“It is the first duty of a soldier to work for peace, at all times, and in all things.” –James H. Peterson Jr., US Army, Retired, Deceased.
