It’s Memorial Day – a Time to Honor… Donald Trump?

The Memorial Day message should always be about honoring those men and women who signed on the dotted line, dedicating their lives to the service of their nation, and often giving their all – even to the death – fighting against foreign enemies, abroad.

They may not have always known why they were fighting. Sometimes the face of the enemy was not clear, but they were dedicated to the mission and their duties.

Some gave all.

Then there are those who gave nothing. They sit in the comfort of their homes, living lives that are often won for them on the backs and through the blood of others, without a thought of real gratitude.

Some even heard the call and had rich daddies to answer for them, with claims of bone spurs or such nonsense.

It didn’t keep them from playing baseball in college, or boasting later in life that their Vietnam was avoiding sexually transmitted diseases.

Oh, wait. I’m talking about somebody in particular, aren’t I?

You’ll have to excuse me that I’m a bit disgruntled today, particularly in regards to our president’s Monday morning Twitter message to “honor” the fallen on this Memorial Day.

To be clear, he did tweet out a prepared video message, mentioning a young boy by the name of Christian Jacobs that he’d met at Arlington Cemetery on Memorial Day 2017.

Christian was there, dressed in a version of the dress blues of the Marines, honoring the memory of his dad.

It was Trump’s next tweet, obviously unscripted and undiluted Trump that left a sickening stench across social media.

Said Trump:

“Best economy in decades, lowest unemployment numbers for Blacks and Hispanics EVER (& women in 18years), rebuilding our Military and so much more.” Trump tweeted.

“Nice!”

That’s right. Because the message is all about him, a man who never served.

Happy Memorial Day! Those who died for our great country would be very happy and proud at how well our country is doing today. Best economy in decades, lowest unemployment numbers for Blacks and Hispanics EVER (& women in 18years), rebuilding our Military and so much more. Nice!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2018

And this may be nitpicking, but am I the only one that bristles when someone cheerfully quips, “Happy Memorial Day”?

I get it. We’re a nation that has forgotten the sacrifices.

I know a lot of people who only see Memorial Day as a three day weekend. They could not tell you the purpose of Memorial Day. For that matter, they could not tell you the difference between Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day.

We are a lazy, uninformed, apathetic society. We can’t even put it off on the youth, because if we’re not teaching them the difference, or teaching them why we honor our fallen service members and veterans, who will?

If we display no more patriotic fervor than to use the day as simply a day off of work and the kick off to summer, with cookouts and the like, without properly recognizing its meaning, then no foundation is being built for tomorrow.

And Donald Trump is not the great patriot his defenders are attempting to convince the world that he is, so let’s not get things twisted.

Shame on him for attempting to hijack this day to promote what he sees as his record.

Our fallen deserve more than that. This is their day, for their honor.