Memorial Day

Given that irony is the new national pastime, it's not surprising to see various media types noting that we memorialize our countrymen who died in military service by going to the beach, barbecuing, and drinking heavily. One more thoughtful commentator, expressed that at no time of the year is the gap between the military and the non-military among us more apparent.

I have no military connections in my family. My father and uncle on one side were both born too young for World War II (though my dad was born on Memorial Day) and too old for the Korean War. I'm the oldest of my generation in my family and I was in the last year of the Vietnam War draft, which was the first year nobody was chosen (I got a lottery number and that was all). I hardly know anyone who's ever been involved in the military in any way.

So what is this holiday for me? Should I feel obligated to watch Saving Private Ryan tonight? Should I watch one or more of the many fine, moving speeches given today? Should I go jogging with a little flag in my cap like the woman I saw earlier? How do you relate to something you have no relationship with?

It's a similar problem with any kind of decontextualized empathy. Darfur? Oil spill in the Gulf? Haiti? I can look at pictures and maybe even talk to someone who visited, but the fact remains that none of these things is directly connected to my life, so how am I supposed to feel?

This was never a problem back before the age of instant communication. Just because we can know what happened somewhere far away does it really do us any good to know?