// Memorial Day//

I didn’t get to say this yesterday because apparently Alabama and Mississippi hate the mobile Tumblr app. But it’s something I thought about all day.

I’m remembering the men, women, and children who have been massacred by war, civilian AND soldier. I’m remembering the Holocaust, Vietnamese women abandoned with babies left to them by rape, the dead men on the ground that American soldiers stood over pissing on, my ancestors dying by the wayside and being left to rot on the Trail of Tears.

I’m remembering the two small children screaming in terror as their parents are shot and killed in front of them, spattering them with gore. I’m remembering the haunted eyes of orphaned children in photographs that span the centuries.

Not all soldiers are heroes. Some are. Some truly believe that they’re defending their country, that they’re making the world safe for their families. While I consider this a naive delusion, I still respect them for the good they do in the name of what they believe to be honor. But some are ruthless, soulless killing machines that delight in the destruction they help to create. 

For this reason, Memorial Day is not about soldiers for me. Memorial Day is for the victims of war.