Happy Memorial Day!

I hope you have a great time today!  Today is a day to spend time with friends and family, maybe at a barbecue, maybe at a beach.  Maybe if you're in the Baltimore area, you'll come by the Hunt Valley Inn to see me at Balticon.

Naturally, we should all take at least a moment today to remember what the holiday is about.  Today is a day to memorialize our hallowed war dead, from the Revolution through today.  I've never thought it degraded the memory of the sainted dead that we spend some time with our families on the holiday in their honor.  In fact, I think it's probably what they would want us to do, to enjoy the freedoms and the peace and the happy, contented lives which they fought to preserve.

Some friends asked me today whether it's appropriate to thank a veteran on Memorial Day, being as this is a day specifically slotted to remember the lost.  I guess everyone has differing opinions on this, and some people would say if you're not spending the day at Arlington or another military cemetery you're doing it wrong.  Personally, I think there's never a bad day to thank a living veteran or to remember a dead one.  And I don't think there's a single veteran, dead or alive, who would approve of people fighting over how to honor them.

So honor them with a hot dog.  Honor them with a song.  Honor them with another silly showing of "The Dirty Dozen" on AMC.  Honor them with fireworks.  Honor them with a car sale.  It doesn't mater.  To each his own.  Be happy.  And frolic.  And always know that there were a few, a happy few, a band of brothers and sisters who gave the last full measure to ensure that you could.  And every day someone signs on the dotted line, with the same consideration in his or her mind.