The day I crossed Omaha Beach was warm and sunny and quiet.

I did not fight through oceans of blood and viscera, stepping over and around and through the dying and recently dead bodies of comrades.

I didn't run headlong into machine gun fire and mortar rounds, trying to hear the orders of officers being barked over explosions and screams.

Barefoot in the sand, sun on my skin, briny air filling my lungs, and gulls cawing in the distance; tears scalded my cheeks as I thought about the battle that had taken place.

It was the longest walk of my life.

Even now as I reflect, I'm filled with reverence & awe at the mix of courage & insanity required to take that beach.

Each footprint I left in the pristine sand was to me a reminder of the pools of blood and entrails deep enough to drown in, that once pockmarked that shoreline.

Over 2,000 US soldiers lost their lives on D-Day, the day US forces landed in Europe and joined WW2. When I ask myself what could motivate a human to endure that level of sacrifice, the only answer that makes any sense is:

They were fighting to preserve the lives of others.

Not just their fellow soldiers. Not just their friends and family.

They were fighting to preserve the lives of countless faceless millions they'd never know; people who had nothing to do with them and no direct connection, people whose lives did not impact theirs not one iota.

Sometimes, that's the level of sacrifice society requires.

2,000 people are now dying every day in the US from the #coronavirus. In just two months 100,000 lives have been lost, 1/4th of the soldiers lost in the four years the US fought in WW2.

Today, as people crowd public beaches, no one is being asked to brave automatic weapon fire and breach enemy territory.

No. The sacrifice we are being asked to make today, to preserve the lives of others, is to wear a fucking mask in public.

Not just the lives of our friends and families.

To protect the lives of first responders, of doctors and nurses, of janitors and environmental services. The lives of grocery store cashiers and postal service people.

The lives of the attendants who care for our elderly, and those who process, prepare, and deliver our food. We preserve the lives of others because we are dependent on the sacrifices of strangers.

That is the price we pay for belonging to a society.

Sometimes, the price of belonging to a society exacts a heavy toll. Other days, it's as easy as stopping at a stop sign, not urinating in public, or returning a shopping cart to its proper place.

On days like this, when we honor our fallen, there is nothing more disrespectful than placing your personal "freedoms" over the greater good.

Personal sacrifices are what allow us to enjoy collective freedoms.

If you're out and about today, be a goddamned patriot and wear a fucking mask. Because sometimes that's the level of sacrifice society requires.

#MemorialDay #WearAMask #Covid19