Make Memorial Day Happy

It’s Memorial Day, and I have been seeing a lot of the following drivel on Facebook:

A normal person has 1,000 wishes. A Soldier only has one, to come home safe. I know 97% of you won't post this as your status, but the 3% that do are my friends. In honor of someone that died, a wounded warrior, or who is fighting (or has fought) for your freedom, please re-post in their honor. Memorial day Weekend! God Bless all those serving now..!!!!

Well, uh, no, I am not going to repost, of course, and that might mean that I am not one of those lucky 3% that get to be your friend for a few keystrokes. (Kind of slutty, don’t you think?) But I am one of the 0.09% that actually DID something to help make the lives of vets a little more bearable.  You can join me, and here's how:

1. Call your local VA to volunteer or donate, even just stopping by to chat with a vet. As part of my job, I have to call hospitals all over the place. When you call a VA, the first thing that the recording says is “Thank you for calling the VA. If you are having thoughts of harming yourself, please call the Suicide Prevention Hotline at …” followed by the local number. (FYI, the national number is 1-800-273-TALK (8255) and they have a special page for vets.) That’s right, enough vets are calling the VA because of suicidal thoughts that they had to stick a message on their recording. That’s f’ed, people, and a FB status isn’t going to make these people feel better.

2. Call or write your congressman and ask them to vote against activities that cause violence in the region of your choice. No, I am not just talking about Iraq, I am pretty much talking everywhere. I suggest that you ask for the School of the Americas to be closed, which is a training camp for Latin American dictators and basically teaches one how to throw a coup and then trash the country afterwards. One such graduate was Michel Francois, who threw the coup in Haiti that removed Jean-Bertrand Aristide and caused the death and torture of more than 5,000. How will writing your congressman help? Well, the School of the Americas in in Georgia. That’s Georgia, USA.

3. Give money. Pick a charity of your choice and sned 'em $$. Too busy for that?  Then send a text message "DAV" to 90999 and you will donate $5 to disabled vets.  Or give a dollar or your lunch to a homeless guy, who is probably a vet. (If I was a vet standing on a street corner, I would personally want to deck every idiot who thinks that some FB status is going to get me fed that day.)

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” I am sure that when Mahatma Gandhi said that, he was hoping that it would be more then the FB status of a bunch of spoiled westerners.

You can make it so.