Remembering "Rememberance Day"

Remembrance Day: Israel mourns its fallen soldiers
By ARIEH O'SULLIVAN AND JPOST STAFF

"The nation is bowing its head on this Remembrance Day, mourning the 20,368 servicemen and women who have fallen in its defense since November 1947.

Taking into account all those who fell defending the Land of Israel since 1860, the number reaches 21,954.

In the past year, 169 members of the police, IDF, Border Police, Prisons Service, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and other organizations have been killed in the service of the state.

The main Remembrance Day memorial ceremony took place Wednesday morning at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl, after a two-minute siren sounded at 11 a.m., bringing the country to a halt.

Additional ceremonies took place simultaneously at 43 military cemeteries around the country, including a memorial for fallen Bedouin soldiers at the Hamovil junction in the Galilee."
(Jerusalem Post, May 1, 2005)

Memorial Day in the United States: a day off from work and school, have a picnic, the President lays a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier. Rememberance Day in Israel: the country stops twice during the day for an entire minute to remember the fallen soldiers. There is exactly 60 seconds between the saddest day of the year, and the happiest (Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day). The pure humanity that is exhibited through Israel's actions, if anything, proves that their love for their country runs deep. And when I think about how America and Americans treat their country and armed forces, it shocks me.

I am a registered Democrat. I did not vote for Bush, nor do I approve of the Iraqi occupation or the amount of soldiers that have been killed since the beginning of the occupation. But I do believe that those who are fighting for our country (whether we like the reasoning behind it or not), are our fellow countrymen. And the fact that protestors call them "babykillers" and "war mongers" is despicable. America treats their soldiers like crap. If we could all take a minute out of our day, everyday, to think about those who are risking their lives for something they believe in, maybe our country wouldn't be as fractured as it truly seems.