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May is National Military Appreciation Month.

If you recall last year, I wrote an article about how I was donating clothing to the Disabled American Veterans organization as a way to raise funds for our veterans.  This year, I’m taking a different approach, and I hope that you would consider doing the same.

With Memorial Day on May 31st this year, it would be wonderful if every grave marker of a fallen veteran in our nation was recognized with an American flag next to it.  I remember participating in placing flags next to the grave markers at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (also know as “The Punchbowl”) in Hawaii.  I would walk up and down the rows, reading the grave markers for each person, learning about the war(s) they participated in, and then placing a flag in the ground to honor their service.  It was a very humbling and rewarding experience.

A friend of mine is participating in a similar event down in Gloucester County, Virginia this year.  With the help of the local Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Girl Scouts in the county, Flags For Vets hope to honor every veteran buried with a flag.  In addition, they hope to catalogue the graves for historical purposes, since over time, some cemeteries do “disappear” when left untended.  It isn’t uncommon to read in the news how a small Civil War cemetery is rediscovered in this region as real estate developers move into undeveloped areas.

If you are unable to participate in placing flags for the fallen, would you consider donating a few dollars to the cause?  Flags For Vets is looking for donations to purchase as many flags as possible this year.  Their goal is 3000 flags; the approximate number of grave markers in the county.  To donate (you can donate as little as $1.00 to purchase a flag), please follow this link to visit their official website.  Thank you in advance, and I hope you pause on Memorial Day to remember the sacrifices made by our brave men and women over the past two centuries to provide and protect the liberties you enjoy today.

UPDATE: Since I’ve already donated the majority of my ad revenue from the past two months, I’ve gone ahead and donated $20.00 towards this cause. This will be twenty more grave markers to be honored like the one I found yesterday while walking through Arlington National Cemetery. If I can, I’ll try to make my way back to Arlington in the hopes to get pictures of the cemetery filled with these little tokens of thanks for all of those that have gone before us.

I was honored this week to write a guest post for our friends over at the BoBo Files. I chose to write about the fiasco in California on Cinco de Mayo. The following is that article.

Five youths attending the Live Oak High School in California were threatened with suspension for showing up to school wearing t-shirts and/or bandanas depicting the American flag. That’s correct. They were threatened with suspension for displaying the symbol of their nation.

According to the school officials, wearing the shirts and bandanas depicting the American flag on Cinco de Mayo was disrespectful and incendiary to the children of Mexican heritage who attend the school. One of the Hispanic students said, “I think they should apologize cause it is a Mexican Heritage Day … We don’t deserve to be get disrespected like that. We wouldn’t do that on Fourth of July.” A Mexican Heritage Day?

Every year, the Cinco de Mayo display goes up at a near-by grocery store highlighting the Corona beer, Doritos, and other “Mexican” party supplies. And every year, I wonder what people in the United States are actually “celebrating.” Cinco de Mayo honors the day that the Mexican Army defeated the French forces at the Battle of Puebla. This surprising victory is similar to the victory by George Washington and our Revolutionary forces over the British Army at Princeton. While neither battle won the war, they were key moments in their battles against (what was then) the Superpowers of their days.

Another thing that these two events share in common is the lack of any official celebration of those wars in their home countries. In the United States, we remember battles such those from Lexington, Concord, and Antietam (from the Civil War) more than Princeton, but those remembrances pale to that of the Fourth of July – our Independence Day. The same is true in Mexico. Cinco de Mayo is not nationally observed unlike El Grito de Independencia, or Mexican Independence Day.

So, if Cinco de Mayo is such a minor day of remembrance in Mexico (it is primarily celebrated in the Mexican State of Puebla), why should the Hispanic student feel so much disrespect? The student referred to it as a “Mexican Heritage Day.” It is, since it was a remarkable victory by the underdog, but does that mean that citizens of the host country (the US) have to set aside their own national pride to mark an event from a foreign country?

Honoring special days in the United States that immigrants bring from their nation of origin isn’t new. Since we are a nation of immigrants, it is only natural that our cultures will blend. For example, the nation stops and celebrates St. Patrick’s Day every March 17th. St. Patrick was a Catholic Bishop who was instrumental in introducing Christianity to Ireland during the 400s. With the mass immigration of Irish Catholics to the colonies, and later the States, the tradition of honoring this Saint was brought with them and adopted by the local population to create the festive holiday we enjoy today. Even the Protestants (who fought against the Catholics for years) in the United States participate in the event.

Non-Mexicans in the United States celebrate Cinco de Mayo in the same way. Most Americans do not know the history of the event, but find it entertaining because of the history of the culture the holiday comes from. This is why the stores sell so many cases of Corona’s and bags of Doritos.

Maybe this should be a lesson taught to the Hispanic-population at Live Oak, as well as the school officials. When you move to the United States, you add your culture to our melting pot, and not the other way around. The respect that the Hispanic student was looking for was misplaced on his part. He should respect the culture (not to mention national pride) of his host nation, and as such appreciate that the five youths in this case were not chanting down nor threatening them over the Mexican holiday. For the school officials, they should host a school-wide presentation teaching all the students on what Cinco de Mayo symbolizes and place it in context with the openness and tolerance the United States offers to immigrants.

I’m glad to hear that the School District has issued a statement expressing their disappointment over the actions of the school officials. Maybe this will ensure that future non-Mexican students will not be threatened with suspension for wearing patriotic attire in the future. One could always hope.

For those of you who do not follow the marijuana crowd, you might not realize that Tuesday is “420,” or the day that people openly smoke marijuana in public.  This internationally recognized “holiday” has evolved over the past 30+ years, from a simple gathering of kids getting high on school grounds to becoming a legalization rally of sorts in the United States.  This year’s 420 has already had some interesting events leading up to the actual day.

Over the weekend, approximately 15,000 marijuana enthusiasts attended the first “International Cannabis and Hemp Expo” in Daly City, CA.  According to CalCoastNews.com, the expo took years of planning to obtain all the necessary permits in place, and provided participants a venue to purchase bongs for $500 as well as other marijuana-related products.  And in New York, NORML (or the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws) will have an electronic billboard in Times Square showing the rate of marijuana possession arrests in New York City over the past 20 years. 

Some schools are already warning their students to not smoke the banned substance on campus property.  Skidmore College, for example, has warned their students that lighting up on Tuesday will result in them being arrested.  Their statement reads:

Last year the report of a gathering on our campus—which appeared in the Saratogian newspaper—had far-reaching and negative consequences for the entire Skidmore community. In particular, this event and the media coverage created a negative image of who our students are. Even given our collective positive impact on the greater Saratoga Springs community, the actions of a small number of individuals were able to undermine our standing. The experience of last year is a good reminder that—even when we do not intend it—we represent the communities to which we belong. As student members of the Skidmore College, your actions will always represent the entire student body (indeed, the entire College community). We are fortunate that in great measure you have all been our best ambassadors.

This brings me back to the article I wrote in May 2009 about changing the legal status of marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule II drug. It would still be illegal for someone to grow and sell the drug, but it would make it legal for companies to grow/develop the drug and for hospitals distribute it as medication. It will be the same as medication such as Vicodin (another Schedule II drug). That change would make some of the silly events such as 420 seem unappealing. After all, how many unofficial holidays do we see where college kids get together in public to pop a Vicodin pill?

Martin Luther King, Jr. once said:

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

It is a noble dream, and one I want to see within my lifetime. There is no reason why we can’t live in an open and free society without being shackled by our skin color. “Red and yellow, black and white, they’re all precious in His sight,” is how the old children’s’ song goes, highlighting how our skin color shouldn’t matter in our relationships and interactions with those of different racial background. This is the goal of King, but I don’t think we’ll achieve it with policies such as Affirmative Action and race-based Hate Crime legislation in the books.

King wanted people to be judged based upon their merit and quality of work, and not by any special “bonus” because they are a minority. Affirmative action did a lot to quickly integrate the whites and blacks together in the workplace and in schools, but now qualified individuals get passed up because of self-imposed quotas, fearing the risk of negative reputations if their workforce doesn’t match the demographics of the nearby communities. Take the National Football League (NFL) as an example. They have the “Rooney Rule” on their books, where they must interview at least one minority for head coaching and football operations positions. It doesn’t matter if they’ve already decided on the hire ahead of time, making this minority a “token” interview rather than a serious candidate. Is that what King wanted? Of course not.

As far as hate crimes go, what is the point of having a two-tiered punishment scale just because the person happens to be a different race? Is it less of a crime if the two persons involved are of the same race? What is the difference between a white man killing a black man (or vice versa) and a white man killing another white man? The end result is someone dying. The punishment should be the same, since the law is suppose to be blind (hence the statue of Lady Justice holding a scale while wearing a blindfold).

These examples above just continue to the division between the races rather than bringing them together. Of course we will never reach a point where the two races are completely blind to the color of their skins (you will still have racist groups similar to the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Panthers running around), but we will get to the point where organizations such as the NAACP cease to be relevant. Some of this will come about as the races continue to blend together through marriage and procreation, but the majority of the change will come from maturity.

I have a dream, Dr. King. I have a dream of a color-blind society before my life ends. My hope is that those who profess to act on your behalf share that dream (no matter their racial background).