24/7 MOMS: The Meaning of Memorial Day

What does Memorial Day mean to you? For most adults, it's a day off of work. Don't forget all those sales/deals going on too. For kids, it's a day out of school and summer vacation right around the corner..

For race fans, the day is all about the Indianapolis 500. For many more of us, it might mean a hot dog on the grill, or a trip to the beach.

Memorial Day is for all of these things. But before we set off on our Memorial Day weekend, we should all pause to remember this number: 1,344,000. That's the number of American military members who have died in the service of their country during U.S. wars.

First and foremost, this day is for those 1,344,000 lives cut short, and their untold millions of dreams left forgotten and unfulfilled.

Consider the fact that in Civil war alone -- America's costliest -- nearly 2 percent of the entire U.S. population died in uniform. Think of the more than 600,000 people in their prime who died in that conflict who never had children, never grew old. Imagine the infinite number of inventions never created, books never written, discoveries never made, buildings never designed, songs never sung. Just because of that one war.

Of course, behind all these numbers are acts of heroism and sacrifice, known and unknown, on battlefields large and small, on every imaginable landscape in every corner of the globe. Those 1,344,000 saved countless other lives, and preserved our nation, because of their deeds and their sense of duty. In the end, we're all their children. We owe everything to them.

Imagine America as a sculpture carved from a marble block. The sacrifices of the 1,344,000 represent the spaces that have been carved away. The shape of our nation is what remains.

America is carved from a solid block of sacrifice. That's what Memorial Day means to us, and what we believe it should mean to us all.

We cherish too, the Poppy red

That grows on fields where valor led,

It seems to signal to the skies

That blood of heroes never dies.

by Moina Michael

If you have ever had a chance to visit a VA National Cemetery on Memorial Day it is quite something. I go every year to visit my dad and its just amazing how many people show up and just the view of people... all the flags... knowing why we are all there. Very emotional.

Click link below to see if there is one in your area....
http://www.cem.va.gov/cem/cems/listcem.asp

National Cemeteries that will probably have events going on too...
http://www.interment.net/us/nat/veterans.htm

HANG A FLAG TO REMEMBER THEM AND ALL THAT THEY AND THEIR FAMILIES HAVE GONE THROUGH