Confederate Memorial Day

I like soldiers. I like ours, I like theirs.

Throughout history, soldiers have mostly been obedient kids, doing a job their elders told them to do without thought, or concern for the reasons why. They have performed their jobs honorably, to the best of their ability, asking nothing in return. I firmly believe that if the Geneva Convention required the pool of conscripts to begin with politicians then 40 to 50 year olds, the world would be a much safer place.

In Mississippi, today is Confederate Memorial Day, one of four days set aside in the southern US to commemorate those who died defending their homeland. I find the tribute fitting.

Americans died during the Civil War, far from home, in venues barely imagined. The Confederate memorial above is in Higginsville, Missouri, near Kansas City, a battlefield far from your notion of where a traditional Civil War battlefield should be. The men memorialized there fought and died, some for a cause they believed in, some because fighting was expected of them.

History is not only about the winners. Today, we honor American sacrifice. Wherever, why ever, how ever, it is important that we do so.

Toad

Confederate Memorial Day

photo: Richard & Salena Marie Mann.

I like soldiers. I like ours, I like theirs.

Throughout history, soldiers have for the most part, been obedient kids, doing a job their elders told them to do without thought, or concern for the reasons why. They have done their work honorably, to the best of their ability for nothing in return.

I firmly believe that if the pool of conscripts began with 40 to 50 year olds, the world would be a much safer place.

Today, throughout much of the south is Confederate Memorial Day. Without turning the day into a apologist nightmare of code words, and hate speech, I find the tribute fitting.

Americans died during the Civil War, in places far from home, in venues hardly imagined. The memorial above is in Higginsville, Missouri, near Kansas City. The men memorialized there fought and died, some for a cause they believed in, some because fighting was expected of them.

History is not just about the winners. Today, we honor their sacrifice.

Toad