Memorial Day

Memorial Day is about celebrating the first unofficial weekend of summer. Unfortunately, certain people have to drag down the spirit of the holiday by making it all about patriotism and the military. I want to know why the people who are most likely to salute the flag are the same people who are most likely to desecrate the memorial of the sacrifices we're supposed to be honoring, by actively and openly opposing the freedoms those sacrifices were allegedly made to protect.

If you salute the flag and then turn around and continue to oppress minorities, then you are a disgrace to this nation and everything it stands for. If, on the other hand, you go out there and celebrate our freedoms, and celebrate the freedom of others not like you, then you are performing Memorial Day correctly. And you don't need to salute a flag to do that, or even THINK about anyone who has died, if that takes away from your festivities.

Although, if you really do want to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, allow me to suggest an alternative. Perhaps you could salute a rainbow flag instead, and think of the many cultural pioneers who were literally murdered by conservatives who didn't like the way they expressed their sexual or gender identities. Not to mention the indigenous peoples who were massacred, racial minorities that continue to face discrimination to this day, and women who still don't even own their own bodies.

If nothing else, just try to foster a little perspective, for goodness' sake, and stop blindly following a script that's not very good to begin with. But yeah, I feel bad for the people our nation sent to their deaths - just not the ones who went voluntarily, because it came with the incentive of being allowed to gun down foreigners without criminal sanction.