Political column by Larry Wiwi
With the waning of the covid virus and diminished restrictions from Governor “Over Reach” DeWine, this year’s Memorial Day parade and ceremony looked a lot more like the traditional service which is actually done very well in my former home town of Harrison. For those of us who really understand what Memorial Day is about we should expect 100% turnout of the citizenry but so many don’t understand and worse so many somehow feel no need to pay homage to those who bought our freedom with their lives.
Memorial Day reminds me that we live among heroes and the memories of heroes every day but in our busy lives almost never take just a couple minutes to think about it. My uncle whom I never met is buried in Holland among thousands of other heroes, and every day I drive past the boyhood home of posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor winner William Baugh. My mother, as a teenager remembers seeing Raymond “Buddy” Hine in a church service, not long before he was lost in the successful mission to take out Admiral Yamamoto, the mastermind of the Pearl Harbor attack.
For those few who do show up for these services each year and those who make it happen, God bless you, and especially those who bring their young children because they in a very real sense are passing the baton of freedom from one generation to the next. You see the same people, the same families at these events each year, though sadly covid seemed to diminish the headcount some this year, but hopefully we’ll be back full strength next year.
Speaking of the regular participants, I have two relatives, both within striking distance of my age who without fail attend the Memorial Day service, and I am thankful that they do. I rarely agree with either of these folks on political matters but that is one of the many beauties of America and our freedoms and regardless of our disagreements, I am again thankful that they choose each year to honor our heroes. However this year a new question occurred to me as I was driving home from the service: Exactly how do you honor heroes who fought and died to protect your individual freedom but vote for Biden and other Democrats who are imposing socialism which is the anthesis of individual freedom?
Larry Wiwi
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