Remembering on Memorial Day

This Memorial Day Weekend there will be plenty of beach parties and backyard barbecues. We will frolic in the surf, drink beer and usher in another summer. And all that is great. It has been a long, cold winter and we all deserve a break. A time to kick back and relax with friends and family. But as we celebrate, we should also remember why we celebrate. To honor those  brave men and women who have given their lives in service to our country so that we may enjoy our freedom.
My father, who is now long gone, would often tell me about landing on the beaches of Normandy in World War II. He told me that even days after the Allied invasion, the stench of death still lingered in the air. I would listen to him tell his war stories as if he was talking about life on another planet. The only frame of reference I had was watching war movies like THE DIRTY DOZEN and PATTON. But for my father, a member of the Greatest Generation , it was all too real. And I knew that nothing he would ever do in his life would be more real.
My father was one of the lucky ones. He came back. But I know, for the rest of his life, he struggled to earn the gift of life he had been given. And like many others, he always felt like he fell short.
Every father who wants to explain Memorial Day to his children should watch SAVING PRIVATE RYAN with them. The final scene is one of my favorites. The elder Private Ryan is at the graveside of his fallen comrades at the Normandy Memorial in France. He turns to his wife with tears in his eyes and says, " Tell me I've been a good man."
Because that is the best way to honor our fallen heroes. To live a good life.