A day of remembrance

I am unhappy with the current trend of seeing Memorial Day as nothing more than a day to go shopping, or to the beach, or to have a really big outdoor party. We boomers are a generation isolated from the reality of wars, unless we are unfortunate enough to have a child in Iraq or Afghaninstan, or are old enough to have been in Vietnam. To us, this is all too abstract, and it is in danger of becoming even more so for our children.

I was struck this morning by the dwindling number of WWII vets, mostly riding in cars, that there are in the parade in town each year. As I explained to my kids, when I was their age, there were WWI vets, in their odd doughboy hats, leading the parade. Now there are less than 100 of them still alive in the US.

My husband is a practicing Buddhist, and we are raising our children in that belief. The most important message we get from it is the futility of war. And that peace is also a battle that must be constantly waged from within as well as without. Peace has no veterans in parades, but it requires all of us to take part, or none of us will survive - even more so in this era of instant carnage. It does not mean one can not defend oneself, or one's nation - just that the bloodshed is an absolute last resort, taken with extreme reservation and respect for life.

I posted this elsewhere this morning, and want to repeat this for those seeking to find music for the holiday observances:

Almost all the branches of service - Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines (of course) and even the Coast Guard have military music available for free public download. Much of this is intended to be played at public assemblies and military funerals where no musicians are available. There is a national shortage of volunteers to play taps at the funeral of veterans, and this is one way for the services to deal with the problem. Some even include directions for the recommended order of play, for example.

Links:

US Marine Corp Band
www.marineband.usmc.mil/

US Air Force Band
http://www.usafband.com/
(One of my favorites)

US Coast Guard Band
http://www.uscg.mil/band/

US Army Bands
http://www.usarmyband.com/
http://bands.army.mil/

US Army Field Band
http://www.army.mil/fieldband/

There are a lot more out there that can be found by searching. Most have a listening room, most have downloadable music files of usually excellent quality. Some even have CD's available for purchase/and/or/download.

(Remembering my Dad, a Coast Guard Reserve and Army vet who served from 1948 - 1953, and my childhood babysitter, Bobby Carovillano who went to war in 1965 and is now memorialized on a wall in Washington, with more than 57,000 others, young and old.)