Who, specifically, are we memorializing this holiday weekend? Everyone? No, that act is reserved for All Souls Day.

Memorial Day is specifically for veterans. How do we honor them? Waterskiiing, barbecues, and other early-summer fun.

It doesn’t seem right. or does it?

KEXP played “Stop the War Now” by Edwin Starr, the follow-up to the popular and frequently covered “War.” The song has a quick, cashed-in feel to it, but buried in the verses is

This is bout all the soldiers
That are dead and gone today
If you asked them to fight again
Huh, what do you think they’d say

The answer is, of course, no. If they thought they were going to die when they signed up, they would have found an excuse not to go.

The question begs another: What would these men do if they could come back? They would do all the things that Americans are doing this weekend: water skiing, barbecuing, and making love. They would eat ice cream, lie down in the grass and watch the clouds, and make love, though not necessarily in that order.

What keeps us from doing all these things in the theorietical possibility of doing them at any time in the future.