Memorial Day Isn't Just A Break From Work
Chad Storlie, REPRINTED FROM USA Today, May 23, 2014
Published: May 26, 2014
Celebrate the holiday by remembering our fallen soldiers; remembering residents who gave their lives for our peace and by acting to make America better. Celebrate by making our community better. 80% of us are exhibiting Peace in our Auburn Gresham Streets. As you celebrate the fallen, focus on this fact, celebrate the fallen and Peace, Monday, May 26, 2014, and every day.
"The plans for this Memorial Day have been made. A picnic in the park, a short vacation to the lake, a trip to the shopping mall, or maybe a visit to a military memorial or a parade. These are all well deserved rests – Americans work hard. However, as Americans, we need to force ourselves to pause and remember the fallen.
(Photo: Dan Pelle, AP)
On Memorial Day, we remember those that fell in combat during America's conflicts. It could be a U.S. Army paratrooper at Bastogne during World War II, a U.S. Marine on the banks of the frozen Chosin Reservoir in Korea, a U.S. Navy Sailor patrolling the Mekong Delta in Vietnam or a U.S. Air Force pilot bombing southern Iraq duringDesert Storm.
We remember them all – their courage, sacrifice, professionalism, dedication and the essence that made them devote their life to their country. The Memorial Days since 9/11, we have primarily remembered those that have fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nor can we forget the "small" wars of Panama, Haiti, Somalia and Lebanon, as well as countless other terrorist attacks where American servicemen and servicewomen died.
For America, remembering the sacrifice of others is not enough. The Americans who died in combat died acting with the conviction, dedication and passion that they were making America and the world safer and better. They were right and we need to repay their devotion with a dedication to act to make America better, just as they were doing when they fell. We need to act in a way that makes America better.
Before May turns into June and the memories of the fallen fade for another year, make a decision to act to make America better. Tutor a child, donate blood, support a local charity, have dinner with strangers at a retirement community for a week, help a veteran advance their post-military career, learn CPR, coach a sport, volunteer in your local VA hospital, serve dinner at a homeless shelter not on Thanksgiving – the list of options to serve America is endless.
Make Memorial Day a day to remember and a day to start acting to remember the fallen throughout the year and not just on one day. Small actions to make America better begin with the values that embody military service: dedication, sacrifice and selfless service. Your actions to make America better are the true recognition of the sacrifice of the fallen.
Chad Storlie is a Marketing & Sales Director at Union Pacific Railroad and the author of Combat Leader to Corporate Leader. He is a retired Army Special Forces (Green Beret) Lieutenant Colonel and an Iraq combat veteran."