Each year at this time we set aside Memorial Day as an opportunity to honor and remember the men and women who have sacrificed their lives to protect the freedoms we as Americans hold so dear. I can’t help but wish, however, that nations would see fit to settle their differences in a more peaceful a
nd civilized fashion. How sad it is to think of the thousands who have given their lives up and, in doing so, have caused so much heartache among the relatives and friends they have left behind.
While I think it is right and good to honor our war dead, I think we should use Memorial Day to redouble our efforts to find other means of settling our differences as nations. How fruitless it is to say that although we have the technology to cure disease on a global level and even to explore outer space, when it comes to solving our most serious differences, we remain mired somewhere in the Dark Ages.
It is indeed true that, as someone once said, war is hell. No matter how civilized and sophisticated we regard ourselves as a race, our propensity and willingness to wage war upon other human beings should always be a matter grave concern, a subject worth contemplating this Memorial Day week and perhaps something to think about the next time we contemplate another war as well.
Richard Bell
Arlington
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