Why Celebrate Memorial Day?

Give the other side of the flag debate its say on Memorial Day.

Photo by Johnathan Basquez on Unsplash.

Though many of us may feel that things are bad, have perhaps never been worse, and aren’t likely to get better, that isn’t exactly the whole truth.

The world is as imperfect as it ever was, of course. Inequality, in spite of all the many technological advancements of the Information Age, persists. Life in America, as many have noted, isn’t like it is in the movies.

Yeah, no kidding.

Racism, sexism, human trafficking, violence, war, injustice, plague; we aren’t exactly lacking for things to be alarmed about. But we aren’t exactly lacking for things to be excited about either.

Worldwide, extreme poverty is on the run, and has been for some years. Those photos we saw 30 years ago, of children dying of hunger half a world away, aren’t as common as the used to be. In fact, the percentage of people dying of hunger on Earth is probably the lowest its been in the history of humanity.

Thanks to advancements in science and technology, experts are better at predicting when a terrible drought or other natural- or even manmade- disaster is likely to hit. With this new knowledge, aid and humanitarian organizations can act more quickly to prevent massive loss of life.