Memorial Day – a day of remembrance. We say it’s to honor those who fought and died for freedom. And to barbecue. But what does freedom actually mean as a concept? To me, freedom is the right to pursue personal happiness, to practice the religion and belief system you choose without fear of oppression. Freedom from the tyranny of the masses – those monolithic viewpoints that tread minority opinion underfoot. Basically, the freedom to disagree.

So does this memoriam apply exclusively to soldiers fighting ‘sanctioned’ wars for nationalistic and corporate ends? What about the freedom fighters that have suffered harassment, imprisonment, torture and death for me to have the right to say… whatever I want, basically. Or the gay rights activists around the world fighting for the right to openly love the consenting adults they choose, the people of other political viewpoints that fight for equality and justice in America and overseas. I am a pacifist, and don’t think America has gotten into a war for the ‘right’ reasons in my lifetime, or in my grandparents’, if ever. But I honor those poor souls used as cannon-fodder for bigger, and pettier, causes than they often know about or understand.

Let’s honor the solders by not having any more pointless wars based on false pretenses, by not pitting one nation’s men against another and pretending we don’t all descend from the same ancestor (that’s Lucy, not Adam and Eve, for those of you who were napping during science class). As Kevin Costner said in The Postman (way better post-apocalyptic film than Waterworld!), “Wouldn’t it be great if wars could be fought just by the assholes who started them?” Just a thought… then maybe we’d be more interested in Presidents with MMA skills instead of backgrounds in corporate malfeasance.

Last summer I was in D.C. and visited the war memorials – WWII, Korean, and Vietnam. The artists depicting those awful struggles understood, possibly better than the modern American, what a terrible cost these wars exert, both for those who suffer and all who have to see it. I feel like these statues speak better than I ever can to the fact that the best Memorial we could offer these men and women is a renewed commitment to humanity – as it says on the Berlin wall, “No wars, no walls, united for peace.”