Memorial Day weekend is a time to reflect on the sacrifices made by our service members and to spend time with friends and family. It’s the kick-off to summer vacation for school children and teachers. Families are anticipating a long-awaited respite from homework and sports schedules. Throughout the neighborhood grills are wafting temptation and children are running through sprinklers to tolerate the blistering heat. Friends and neighbors sit next to one another along the street curb, waiting for the procession of soldiers, high school bands, classic cars, and thrown candy. All are smiling and chatting, despite the wretched heat. This is a chance to get to know the people that live in the area. Perhaps it’s an opportunity to make new friends and to establish bonds with neighbors which symbiotically ease the burdens of parenting by offering a chance for families to take turns caring for each other’s kids.
For some families, summer doesn’t offer a break from the harried bustle of everyday life. School days are just replaced by summer camp schedules and other sports opportunities. For many this is necessary because parents work and must have daycare for their kids. Other families feel the need to supplement their kids’ education over the summer so they don’t lose what they’ve learned over the school year so they enroll them in tutoring classes, music lessons and assign them workbooks.
In this country, we have the right to choose what’s the right course for our family. For some, summer is playing outside with the neighbor kids from down till dusk. For others it may be keeping a strict schedule to ease the transition when the school year begins again. Some families take trips and some kids spend the summers with their grandparents. There aren’t many rules that families have to follow during the summertime. We are pretty fortunate to have the freedom to decide for ourselves what is right for our families.
Our veterans risk their lives to help ensure the freedoms we enjoy in this country. Putting aside the argument of whether our troops should be deployed at all, each individual soldier is taking the ultimate risk on behalf of the American people. This deserves recognition and appreciation. And it begs a conversation about the freedoms we enjoy. What does it mean to have freedom of speech, the right to vote, a jury of our peers, or the right to elect our representatives? What might family life be like for us had we been born somewhere else?
So why, when we are a country of brothers and sisters in freedom, have our neighborhoods become like ghost towns? Where are the block parties and the kids playing in the yards? We could be helping one another out so our families can have a sabbatical over the summer holiday. We could learn new perspectives and get insight into our struggles. It really does take a village to raise a child and yet we are so disconnected from one another.
It’s a privilege to live in a country where we have many freedoms, but are we living our lives to the fullest, or are we imprisoning ourselves with our lifestyles? It starts with becoming more connected to our neighborhoods and engaging in partnerships which benefit all involved. We should get out and meet people on Memorial Day. We should reach out with a handshake and a smile. We should open our minds to the creative solutions that come with being part of a community. And we should give thanks that we live in a place where we have the freedom to do so.