Memorial Day is a Day of Remembrance for our fallen soldiers and veterans. It is a day that transcends politics, partisanship and polarization. I attend an event in my city of San Jose every Memorial Day to remember, acknowledge and express my gratitude to those who fought wars and died so that we can bask in the sunshine of freedom and liberty in these United States.
It is often the Oak Hill Memorial Park at 300 Curtner Avenue in San Jose
that I find myself on Memorial Day to remember and reflect. Veterans and politicians make moving
speeches as the U.S. flag flutters in the breeze rustling the sycamore trees.
I walk around the Memorial graveyard where heroic, selfless stories of
sacrifices are buried beneath the earth that we the living must tell and retell
so that future generations can learn that freedom, justice and democracy
come at a price and must never be taken for granted.
Families of
the fallen and the wounded continue to mourn, one or more generations deep. We
must never forget these families too. A visit to the Memorial Park reminds me
also of the veterans of our nation who continue to die by suicide. Memorial Day
is a reminder of the critical issue of mental health that afflicts our young
and old alike, leading to deaths of despair. We have to put an end to these
deaths.
Photographs tell stories where words fail. Look at the event at the Oak Hill Memorial Park today, feel its sights and sounds, and remember those whose ultimate sacrifices made our life what it is today, in which the quest for justice, freedom and democracy burns bright.
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