The Alligator often represents the voice of millennials and young college-aged men and women, and sometimes it’s said that our generation forgets the sacrifices of those before us in the name of youthful narcissism and detachment from world affairs.
Perish the thought.
You may have noticed that today’s paper is full of Memorial Day articles and highlights the diverse ways the local community is honoring its servicemen and women. Our generation was born and raised in one of the longest-running armed conflicts in American history, and it’s been an ever-present part of our generation’s daily news cycle since the turn of the millennium.
We’ve been reminded of the brave men and women who defend our lives and homes like clockwork with every conflict and every international tension raised by the war on terror and organizations like the Taliban. Since we were young, the world we’ve known has always been a world at war. Perhaps our conflicts have not been as involved or dramatic as World War II and maybe not as polarizing as the Vietnam War, but we’ve been raised with war at the forefront of our world.
But this year’s Memorial Day is different. On Monday, President Barack Obama laid a wreath before the Tomb of the Unknowns and delivered a speech before a crowd of 5,000. It was a gesture reminding us once again of the men and women who gave their lives to defend ours. But this year, for the first time in nearly 14 years, American forces are not engaged in a major ground war against any force, and while new conflicts may be on the horizon with international tensions raised by the Islamic State group, this is still the first time in more than a decade that our generation has known a Memorial Day without a conflict to accompany our remembrances.
For a generation that has been raised in a period of nearly perpetual conflict, this respite is something most people may forget in light of rising tensions and news of drone strikes continuing throughout the Middle East, but it’s an achievement that shouldn’t go unacknowledged.
Its important that we’re not merely offering the usual platitudes this year, but also acknowledging that we’ve got a glimpse, however brief, of what our veterans and soldiers have been fighting for.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 5/26/15]
