Memorial Day, Reclaimed: Honoring the Fallen, Questioning the War

Every year, Memorial Day rolls around and we're flooded with flags, sales, and slogans. "Freedom isn't free." "Support the troops." "Land of the brave." And while I understand the heart behind it, I also feel something deeper rising in me now.

Because I'm not just here to wave a flag. I'm here to ask: What were they fighting for? And who decided it was worth dying for?

The truth is, many of the wars we've memorialized were not born of justice or defense. They were manufactured—designed by systems that profit off conflict, silence dissent, and send the young to die while the powerful remain untouched. And yet, the people who fought? They believed. In something. In us. In freedom. In each other.

And for that, I still honor them.

I honor the fallen—not for the politics that sent them, but for the humanity they carried. For the moments they wrote home. The letters they never got to send. The families left behind. The belief in something better.

So no, I won’t celebrate war. But I will celebrate them.

And I will continue to speak truth—because that’s how we make sure no more are lost for someone else’s agenda.

Let this Memorial Day be more than a BBQ or a discount code. Let it be a reckoning. Let it be remembrance. Let it be love. Let it be truth.

Because freedom? Isn’t freedom until we start telling the truth about how we got here.