Many of my family members my Dad, Uncles, Brother, and several cousins all had served in our Military in the past. I'm going to a family picnic in a couple of hours from now to reflect what they had done for our country.

Our country and our world still produces heroes, both in and out of uniform. I wish we could count the president among them.

At the risk of getting political, I actually have some serious issues with the way that Memorial Day is observed. I say this as someone whose oldest son served in both Afghanistan and in Iraq and who lost one of his best friends in the first Gulf War (less than a year after I attended his wedding). And no, I'm not talking about the crass commercialism and endless sales. I know better than to think that isn't going to happen in capitalist Murica.

First, Memorial Day is not Veteran's Day and it isn't Armed Forces Day. It's to remember those who gave their lives in service to the country. Which leads to the second issue.

I have a really hard time with the constant, "Gave their all for our freedoms" mantra. It's been over 70 years since this country was involved in a conflict that realistically involved any danger to our freedoms. I'm not trying to take anything away from the men and women (including my son and my friends) that fought in more recent wars. But our freedoms were never in danger in those conflicts. They were, almost constantly, in much more danger from people in our Federal, State and Local governments at those times. I firmly believe that Bull Connor, George Wallace and Dick Cheney were much more a threat to our freedom than Kim Il-Sung, Ho Chi Minh or Saddam Hussein.

That said...I do hope that all who fell serving their countries will rest in peace. And that they deserve to be remembered for serving their country.