When you change the way you look at things..

Wrote this many years ago. Still having the same thought process.

We will go to the local "Memorial Park" in Cupertino and say a silent thank you to the folks who let us have the life we do by sacrificing their lives. We also went to the Livermore temple and said a prayer for all those souls to rest in peace. All of those folks gave their lives to fight for the USA, just to ensure "our way of living" is secure, but as civilians, shouldn't we all think the other way around?

Maybe we shouldn't have to be in this many wars and have our servicemen put in harms way for no reason? Can we reduce the number of casualties in our armed forces, if we change our habits for the betterment of the US and the world? Maybe consume less gas, waste less water and food, even use less plastic packaging, electing the right politicians, disconnecting the war mongering machinery that creates more conficts to ensure arms suppliers continue to make a profit at the expense of the world, etc. etc. every choice we make every minute today seems to make it worse for our armed forces! 

In true American tradition, we cut down a bunch of 50 year old oak trees, put a road through it and call it "Oak tree road", kill every bear and dry out the local creek and call it "Bear Creek road", butcher every native in the area and name the roads after their tribe.

Along the same lines, we send a bunch of kids to war in far off lands to die on false pretexts and erect memorials in their name. 

Yes, the cynic in me is at a 100% and the irony meter has maxed out, but isn't that what is going on even today?

We should think about the consequences of our actions and see what we can do to change them. I give up most times, because the changes we want simply don't seem possible,  especially when you realize that you are fighting big money, and the only way to fight money is with more money!

In any case, irrespective of our choices and where we are, where we are going to end up in as a country, the dedication of our servicemen is something we should all be grateful for.

This year, we are not traveling for Memorial day.

One good thing about having a blog is you can see where we have gone for this weekend over time.. In the last 10 years we have visited so many different places (we could have a similar list for 4th of July, Labor day or Thanksgiving and Christmas) 

2005 - India Trip for Grandparents wedding wows..

2006 - Disneyland, Seaworld with San's grandparents

2007 - Yellowstone National Park

2008 - Mt. Shasta, Lassen National Park

2009 - Menocino, Fort Bragg

2010 - Monterey Bay Aquarium

2011 - Palm Springs 

2012 - Stayed home, went to Great Mall and Cherry picking in Brentwood

2013 - Denali National Park

2014 - Lassen National park - a rerun

When you set the travel bar at this level, there is an expectation to go somewhere, anywhere! This year, I am just too tired. Simply do not want to see an airport or sit on an airplane seat. Just happy to be at home, eat, sleep and finish off some chores at home. At least that was the plan when I wrote this post on Saturday morning and forgot to "post".

I did manage to clean the Aquarium which was long overdue. Then I got the flu on Saturday night. The last 72 hours has been very painful. Travel get sick. Don't travel, still get sick.. So per San and the kids, might as well travel and be sick.

Sometimes a three day weekend is not enough just to get to a sense of normal! The kids think given I got sick, it is normal. They can be cruel sometimes with their jokes.

To think that I am complaining about a 3 day weekend not being enough when our troops don't get to see their families for years at a stretch is maxing out the irony meter again.

Here's to the guys who defend our "freedom". That freedom should be freedom of speech, expression, social values, religion, etc.. not freedom to be irresponsible!