Memorial Day Metrics

Reflecting on Memorial Day, and what makes a country strong.

Thinking this Memorial Day of those who fell in service of our country's various missions (including the 58,000+ who did so defending the flag on the right, under which I was born), and the loved ones they left behind.

Whether or not each mission achieved its military objective, the unquestionable success of the military members killed in duty that this holiday honors is evident by the fact that our nation stands, and has for almost 250 years been strong and resilient enough to absorb millions of immigrants and incorporate thousands of small ethnic enclaves within its borders, like Eden Center in northern Virginia, where the two photos above were taken today.

Now, the defense of the ideals broad enough for our country to continue on this course of openness and inclusion is up to the rest of us - the civilians - performing our civic duties at the ballot box, in the courts, in our nonprofit and business organizations, our schools, and beyond, in our daily and regular social intercourse and interactions with each other.

I will concede that my perspective as an admitted refugee is biased; I have a vested interest in claiming space for myself and the cultural heritage my parents worked so hard to preserve - all the yummy food and millennia old traditions. It boggles my mind that there are actually people who would give up all the polyglot cultural gems that make us what we are today. Sure, all the photos in this post are of Vietnamese food - because I spent time this long weekend with great aunts and cousins in Northern Virginia. But are any of us ready to give up pizza and Italian food, Tex Mex, soul food, all of the other things brought to these shores by all of the other waves of arrivals? It's all of that, ALL of it, mixing and remixing and existing (mostly peacefully) side by side that makes us so great, so worth the sacrifice, isn't it?