Today is a day we've set aside to honour those who've fallen in battle. It is proper that we should do this. However, this begs many questions, but above all: who cries for them?
Who cries for the victims of acts of unjust military force we've committed over our history? Do not those who lost their lives along the Trail of Tears deserve to be remembered? Should not we honour the John Browns and Captain Jacks of history as well? How about the people of Iraq who took up arms because they objected to being subjugated by a foreign power? Are American souls somehow worth more than non-American ones? Will we learned the lesson those who have passed on taught us with their passing and move beyond militarism and our 'us-versus-them' worldview?
As we go through today, I'd like to ask that each of remember that every life lost, regardless of which side it came from, is a loss to humanity as a whole, and that there are no winners in armed conflict, only survivors.
Peace.