Memorial Day is for remembering

'The thing about remembering is that you don't forget'
By Todd Leopold
CNN
Sat May 26, 2012

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
This holiday was established in the 1860s to honor Civil War dead
For those who have lost loved ones, the day cuts deeply
On Memorial Day, we should remember those who gave their lives -- and those left behind

(CNN) -- Thank you for your service.

We say those words more frequently now -- when we see men and women in uniform at the airport, when we accept a paper poppy from a veteran at the supermarket, when we sit next to a member of the military at a ballgame.

Thank you for your service.

It's a nice gesture, true, but small. We say it, but then most of us go back to the rest of our lives.

It's a volunteer military these days, after all; we don't have to serve, and we don't have to remember.

So we don't have to think about the bitter cold of the Ardennes in the Battle of the Bulge. We don't have to think about the steaming, confused jungles of the Vietnam War, a war whose 50th anniversary is now being commemorated. We don't have to think about IEDs, and up-armored Humvees, and downed helicopters.

We don't have to think about the sacrifices. But we must.
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