It is not "Happy Memorial Day". It is a day of remembrance, for those who have lost their lives fighting in wars that should never have taken the young before they had a chance to live. It is deeply offending to see ads for Memorial Day sales that ask us to "celebrate" this day by spending money. Today, I sit quietly, listening to the rain, and remember all those in my family who have died in war. Most of them were recent immigrants who were called to serve in a war that fought against their families left behind in their country of origin. In one case, the government had to send a letter to his mother still living in Germany during WWI, to notify her of her son's death. Many who served and died were not yet citizens. Also, today, I remember those who died in prison for refusing to serve in the Great War. Because of their sacrifice, the United States for the first time, created an alternative service for those who considered themselves to be conscientious objectors. In peace dear soldier, for war is always about the dead, the destruction, the loss of the innocents, the children who grow up without fathers, and mothers, the soldiers who never fully recover from their injuries, the soldiers who lived through the horrors of war, only to end it in times of peace. And then, it is always about the monuments we build to honor them after the war has ended. And in time those too are left to ruin in neglect as a new war takes their place. So, today, I do not celebrate, I remember. And, next year, 2018, I will be attending another Memorial Day service in Flanders Field American Cemetery, only this time with my cousin, Louis Hermans's grave adopter, Catherine Herman. Another life changing experience. foto van Rebecca Lawrence-Weden.