It’s Memorial Day Weekend here in the USA. Monday is a national holiday, and most people celebrate by kicking off the summer with a trip to the beach or a barbecue. However, the day has a more serious and deeper meaning: it is the day we Americans are honor soldiers who died while serving the country.
In times of war, this day takes on a more somber tone: In Afghanistan, there has been over 3,000 coalition soldiers killed, including 1900 Americans since 2001. The UN has been keeping tabs on civilians killed since 2006, with the latest count at over 12,000. This includes 3,000 civilians last year alone.
When you take a long, historical view wars are becoming less frequent and less deadly. Still, Memorial Day is an appropriate time to reflect on the human toll of war and the ways in which we can all work toward a world without war.