Like I said, I and my family don't recognize the day, nor do we remember lost loved ones "with the nation". Ever. We have done our grieving privately, and will continue to do so. No one in our family has ever enlisted in the military--all were conscripts. Therein lies a huge difference, in my experience. People who have made a free choice to enlist simply do not view the military and the nationalist fervor surrounding it in the same way that conscripts and their families do.

Conscripts go fight wars because they fear the consequences of not complying with the law, and what their government will do to them for non-compliance.

My vitriol is directed at the people who say I dishonor those who have fought by not acquiescing to their point of view. Whether people view themselves as militarists or not isn't the point. Getting up in somebody's face because they choose NOT to honor their dead "with the nation" is what I object to.

On Saturday, I had a nouveau patriot twenty something kid in my face at the liquor store about the "honoring of the war dead". How did that one start? I noticed that the liquor store was going to be open on Memorial Day, and so was making small talk with him (the cashier). I said I was sorry he had to work the holiday, meaning it sincerely, the same I would if someone had to work on New Years or whatever legal holiday.

He then went off on a tirade about the only people who would shop the liquor store on Memorial Day were a bunch of drunks, and he didn't think that was right. He went on to say he thought everyone should do something patriotic, especially for those who had died on 9/11.

If people don't realize just how strong the hate is out there for anyone who isn't towing the Republican Party Patriot line these days--including in our everyday lives (like at the liquor store, or checking in to Mudcat) they don't have a clue as to what I'm on about.

We should all have the our rights honored to spend Memorial Day any way we wish to, without people getting up in our faces about choosing not to celebrate the day at all. Which is the way, I'm guessing, most Americans actually spend Memorial Day. Picnics and barbeques with friends and family? Sure, a lot of people do that. Me and my neighbors (most of whom are former military people too) mostly did yard work.