Today is Memorial Day, the real holiday and not the convenient one that we celebrate on the last Monday in May so everyone can have a long weekend, picnics, barbecues and parades. No. This is the day set aside by Gen. John Logan to decorate the graves of the fallen men of the Civil War. This is a solemn day, not a joyous one.

Some folks believe that Memorial Day is a day to remember veterans. It is that, but not in the way one typically thinks. Veterans Day is Nov. 11, which was originally the day the armistice was signed at the end of World War I, bringing peace back to the world, albeit temporarily.Memorial Day was created as an extension of Logan's General Order to memorialize the fallen soldiers of the Grand Army of the Republic. As later wars inflicted their toll on the world, Memorial Day slowly transitioned to an occasion to remember those fallen men and women who laid down their lives for our freedom. Veterans gather on Memorial Day to remember their fallen comrades, both those whose blood and sweat coat battlefields from Gettysburg to Argonne to Normandy to Iraq and Afghanistan, and those veterans who died peaceably of old age.Many folks do not know the difference. CNN conducted a poll recently and found that in social media there are many Americans who do not know the difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day. I think the reason for this is modern-day Americans, especially those my age and younger, have no concept of what an all-out war really is.Veterans, please correct me if I am wrong, but we have become too complacent in our backyards, sports cars, vacations and jobs. Our older parents and grandparents remember, though. My aunt and grandmother often told me of the ration coupons, the food lines, the scarcity of supplies.When we worked to retrieve Summit Hill's Civil War cannons, we all learned how many of those armaments were confiscated by their real owners, the federal government, to manufacture guns and ammunition in World War II. There were blackouts and curfews, self-imposed partial martial law. Our forebears willingly did these things to protect this nation's lifeblood and industry.Fortunately the Germans and Japanese never had the opportunity to get that far.In the Civil War there obviously were no air raids, but there was plenty of hellfire rained down by opposing armies. Gettysburg was transformed into a wasteland of body parts and corpses after July 3, 1863. The town was not safe. The surface water intermingled with the blood of fallen soldiers, both Union and Confederate. The smell was noxious, according to those who journaled about the battle. In Antietam, the site of the worst day of casualties in American history in any war, rangers say the Antietam Creek ran red. My great-aunt and -uncle said that legend had it when it rained the ground turned red for years. While that may not necessarily be fact, it illustrates the awful toll of war on humanity.We have become complacent even though there are new enemies at our door. People today do not want to hear the truth. They want to believe we are beloved by the world. Some live in the fantasy that it can never happen here. Even after Sept. 11, we do not want to believe what we are told. There are terrorists itching to get a piece of this nation. Why are we so naïve?I believe it is because my generation and those after mine believe that war is "Call of Duty" or "HALO." Some pointless first-person shooter on a computer in which people never permanently die. We riot over being unable to get an iPhone but do not blink when the government passes another law to chip away at our freedom of speech.We throw fits over police trying to retain law and order after some slighted individual and their friends feel they got the short end of a stick and must resort to violence, but we do not bat an eye when our leaders pass laws that abridge our right to free assembly or our right to privacy.Our definition of rationing is being unable to buy more than two of the latest collectible Barbie doll. We are sick with materialism and weakened by our inability to face true adversity. For goodness' sake, we give trophies to children for just showing up for sports tournaments. We no longer reward people for hard work, but we do reward people for just being there.Why do we have the freedom to give away our freedoms as Americans? We have that cursed luxury because of over 1 million soldiers, men and women who laid down their lives so that we can overindulge in our gluttony. Those brave patriots including my grandmother's cousin, William Remaley, who died defending this nation in several wars to preserve our freedom.Today politicians wage our wars not generals. They don't want to win conflicts, they just want to get re-elected. Our country is slowly fading into a shadow of its principles. We are deceived into believing that it is OK to give up just a small portion of our rights for our protection. We are taught wrong.This afternoon I ask you to take 15 minutes of your day and go to the nearest cemetery. Take a walk around and find those graves marked with United States flags. This Memorial Day we all should apologize to those fallen soldiers and make a solemn promise not to squander their sacrifice. Most importantly, when you leave that cemetery, get involved and strive to make our nation better one phone call at a time. Happy Memorial Day.Till next time …