Some Thoughts about Memorial Day

This is the text of a letter I had published in the 6/5/2014 edition of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.  It is a good thought for this Memorial Day, and indeed, any Memorial Day.
 

"Letter to the Editor

Thursday, June 5, 2014, 8:55 p.m.

Standing at my father's grave this Memorial Day, I looked around at the number of American flags in the cemetery. The increase in those numbers over the years gives silent testimony to the fact that my father's generation, truly our country's greatest, is passing away.

That is the natural order of things, but what did they leave behind to us baby boomers?

Look around. They built that — literally. Most of that generation grew up during the Great Depression and came of age as war cast its shadow over the entire world. They went out into the world, sacrificing to defend not only our freedom and liberties, but to recover them for nations that had lost theirs.

After winning that struggle, they returned home and built our country into the world leader it was destined to be. They brought us boomers into the world and when the time came, they "passed the torch to a new generation of Americans." They truly left us with a nation that was better than it was when they found it.

What have we done with their legacy? Have we squandered it for petty political gain or, worse, to make a quick buck? Have we spent it on instant gratification of our momentary desires, with no thought to the next generation? And what will we leave to our children?

These are not rhetorical questions, baby boomers. We are not getting any younger. Will that torch still be burning when we pass it? " 

My Dad, circa 1943.  I have been unable to determine for sure where the picture was taken, but it may have been taken in  the Philippines