{"id":4185,"date":"2012-05-24T23:34:25","date_gmt":"2012-05-24T23:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/karenspearszacharias\/?p=4185"},"modified":"2012-05-24T23:34:25","modified_gmt":"2012-05-24T23:34:25","slug":"memorial-day-the-mattress-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/karenspearszacharias\/2012\/05\/24\/memorial-day-the-mattress-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Memorial Day & the Mattress Man"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u2019m in Portland for a book event tonight (Thursday) at Powell\u2019s bookstore (7 p.m. Cedar Hills). So this morning I did a round of media in advance of the event.<\/p>\n

The first stop included an interview with KATU\u2019s AMNorthwest. <\/a><\/p>\n

My time slot was the last segment, which meant that I had to wait in the \u201cGreen Room\u201d hanging out with the other morning guests \u2014 a woman who won a lap-band contest, the doctor who chose her as the winner, and a man who sells mattresses.<\/p>\n

I learned so much about mattresses, I\u2019m tempted to write a novel with the Mattress Man as the lead character.<\/p>\n

His business makes mattresses.<\/p>\n

He fills orders for 400 mattresses a day.<\/p>\n

Where do all the mattresses go when they go bad? one woman asked.<\/p>\n

Mattress heaven, I replied.<\/p>\n

Actually we use the stuffing for dog chew toys, the Mattress Man said.<\/p>\n

You might want to stick with those rawhide chews instead.<\/p>\n

Memorial Day is a huge weekend for mattresses, the Mattress Man added. One of our biggest weekends for selling \u00a0mattresses. He puffed out his chest and grinned broadly as he said it.<\/p>\n

The way he smiled made me want to slap somebody.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not his fault. He\u2019s just the Mattress Man.<\/p>\n

But for some of us, Memorial Day isn\u2019t about mattresses.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about coffins.<\/p>\n

I wanted to tell him that.<\/p>\n

But instead, I simply shook my head and thought about the conversation I\u2019d read yesterday between a group of young military widows. One of the widows was complaining about how so many people just don\u2019t comprehend the purpose of Memorial Day.<\/p>\n

Specifically, she was upset that so many people make Memorial Day about veterans.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not about veterans, she said. It\u2019s about the fallen. Veterans Day is for the veterans. Memorial Day is when we are supposed to remember the fallen and their families.<\/p>\n

When we are supposed to acknowledge them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019m off to Washington, D.C. tomorrow for the Memorial Day activities.<\/p>\n

I will sit in the row I sit in nearly every Memorial Day and every Veterans Day.<\/p>\n

And I will think about the Mattress Man,<\/p>\n

and how so much of war really has nothing to do with anything honorable.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s mostly about money.<\/p>\n

On Monday I\u2019ll miss my father the way I have every day since 1966, and I\u2019ll think of all the thousands of other children growing up here in America and in Iraq and Afghanistan without fathers present, some without mothers present. And I\u2019ll think of the mothers and fathers who miss their fallen sons and daughters, and I\u2019l weep for them all, the way I am now.<\/p>\n

Because no matter what goes on sale over Memorial Day weekend, a mattress or more, none of it came cheaply.<\/p>\n

Maybe you could buy a card and send it to the widow down the street and tell her you appreciate that.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll already be among a family of veterans <\/a>whom I love and appreciate. Men and women who fulfill the promise to my father, and our family, indeed, to all the fallen, and their families to Never Forget.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cuTZSGOo42k<\/a>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m in Portland for a book event tonight (Thursday) at Powell\u2019s bookstore (7 p.m. Cedar Hills). So this morning I did a round of media in advance of the event. The first stop included an interview with KATU\u2019s AMNorthwest. My time slot was the last segment, which meant that I had to wait in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3070,3072,257,299,352,662,663,3066,667,690,764,3068,3069,1080,3071,1129,3073,1610,1720,3067,1815,1844],"class_list":["post-4185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-amnorthwest","tag-breavement","tag-capitalism","tag-children","tag-congress","tag-gold-star-children","tag-gold-star-families","tag-gold-star-mothers","tag-gold-star-wives","tag-grief","tag-honor","tag-jan-scruggs","tag-katu","tag-memorial-day","tag-memorial-day-sale","tag-money","tag-never-forget","tag-soldiers","tag-the-fallen","tag-the-wall","tag-veterans","tag-war"],"yoast_head":"\nMemorial Day & the Mattress Man<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I'm in Portland for a book event tonight (Thursday) at Powell's bookstore (7 p.m. Cedar Hills). 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