National BBQ Day

I don't know the source of this picture.  It was being passed around a social network site, with the included caption.  I had to look up the information on who this was.  I didn't know James John Regan.  Someone did and it seems that she loved him and misses him very, very much.

I see article after article on site after site about the best things to do on the holiday.  Which events to go to, which parks are open, which shows to see, what sales are happening, and which BBQ sauce is best on your prize ribs.

I hear Budweiser is on sale too, with a special deal on full racks.

So, as you go about your holiday on Monday, or if you don't read this until you get back from your vacation, I ask you not for any real sacrifice.  You see, no sacrifice you can make, no observation, no flag flying (even if you fly it correctly and store it correctly afterward), will approach one fraction of what James John Regan paid and what she pays in this picture.  However, you can do something.

Saying, "thank you for your service," is nice, but it isn't really enough and it isn't what I'm asking you to do.

This is what I'm asking you to do.

As you go about your weekend, in the most powerful country in the world, looking for the best deal on the lastest iPod, picking up that new living room set at Ikea, or cutting that awesome deal on the new car, or even just a full rack of Bud on sale, do one thing.

If you have not lost a friend or family member in these wars I ask you to consider something.  Think about why Sgt. Regan was where he was.  Why did we (you and I, through our proxies in the government) send him to Iraq and Afghanistan?  Think about why his life had to be taken by an IED.  Spend a minute or two thinking of what was going through Mary McHugh's soul as she lay on James' grave at Arlington National Cemetery.  

We go through our busy lives, working, paying our taxes, complaining about our taxes, fighting over politics, raising children, consuming what the corporations tell us to consume.  I wonder what our country would be like if we all considered the questions above.  I wonder if we would be quick to go back to shopping when we hear of another death of an American citizen in a foreign land.  Would we stop and think, "is this enough?  Is this too much?"

Would we?

If not, why not?

Now, where is that BBQ sauce I picked up at the QFC sale on Tuesday?