Among our national holidays is Memorial Day. Living in a beach community, it means tourist season is here, so the cash registers can ring more often. Traffic becomes congested, and we eat more unhealthy food. Why do summer vacations need to be memorialized anyway?

Veterans tend to think Veterans Day is more important, because the real meaning of Memorial Day is overwhelmed by the hamburgers, hot dogs & beer. It is not unlike the disagreement among Christians of whether Easter is more important than Christmas.

To me, Veterans Day is the day everybody is required to say “thank you for your service” to combat veterans and pencil pushers alike. Memorial Day is a day to remember and appreciate the military members who actually DIED for us. Our British friends do the same and call it Remembrance Day.

I would prefer to discard Veterans Day and to honor PTSD survivors instead. Nobody knows how many PTSD sufferers there are, but the VA estimates 10% of the Vietnam vets and 21% of the Desert Storm vets still suffer from it.

Regardless, we salute all those who have paid that “last full measure of devotion”! You are not forgotten! We also salute those families who loved them. You are also not forgotten!

The thoughts, opinions and emotions expressed here are those of Jim Flinchum alone and not necessarily those of Bay Capital Advisors, its partners, officers, or employees!