On this Memorial Day, we should honor all of those who gave of
their lives so that we can live in a free country and keep America safe from
invasion or destruction.

Neither America not the world is perfect, but given a choice, and we each
enjoy that as Americans, there is no other nation I would want to be living
in than this one.

My dad deeply opposed the Vietnam War, in part for self-preservation as a
young man eligible for the draft, and in part because he believed in
peacefully working out our differences or to finding ways for enemies to live
side by side.

Endless fighting never settles everything for everyone all of the time. In
other words, there will always be someone who hates someone. How do we
contain, weaken, or get along with them?

All wars end, one way or another. Some lead to another war, as WW1 led to
WW2. America has battled Europe and Asia and the Middle East. I will guess
that American war in Africa will happen eventually.  It may never end,
this cycle of war, until the world itself does.

American Indians fought each other and then against Europeans and Americans.
Vikings and pirates explored and killed all over the place. Many nations
enslaved many kinds of people. Civil wars have been waged in many nations.
Siblings, parents, children, and spouses even kill one another. Gangs kill
each other. Religious tribes kill others. There is a lot of killing on Earth.

And to live in America today, means our freedoms must be protected. I thank
anyone who wore the uniform and died for our country.

There are authors who became soldiers, and some never returned home from the
battlefield, and those people should get a special mention. All writers
should appreciate that their First Amendment rights derive from the
Revolutionary War, and were protected by every soldier that died fighting for
America.

This does not mean I prefer war over peace, but I understand that our world
is complicated. It is quite violent, both by nature and need. We need
security — and law and order in order for anything else to be possible.

Some journalists and writers, though not officially soldiers, have been
killed in the line of duty. Their job was not that of soldier but that of
freedom fighter, to observe, report, and analyze the wars that are waged.
Writers help us understand war, protest it, and advocate for it. 

May the world find a way to live in peace and prosperity, but should there be
a time an American soldier dies for freedom, let us remember their sacrifice