The third cup

Hi neighbors. It's Memorial Day weekend and everyone is busy enjoying the first long holiday weekend of the summer.

Families gather, grills get lugged out of storage and fired up, lawn chairs and loungers get hauled from the garage onto the patio or under the favorite big tree. Dad gets to practice his grilling skills.

Young children set up yard games like ring-toss and badminton. Older ones head for the driveway for basketball or to the closest empty lot for baseball. Toddlers have parents or grandparents unroll the water gear for sprinkler, sliding and wading pool fun.

Mothers and grandmothers exchange family gossip, recipes and children's school pictures. Fathers and grandfathers talk about work, cars and house repairs.

Sooner or later, before or after the extended family dinner and day of chatter, games and fun -- everyone heads to the cemetery to put flowers, flags and tears on graves of the departed.

I hope this scenario is true of your family as well as mine. To me it is such a wonderful blessing to get together with the extended family and retie family bonds. Even meeting people new to the family, or cousins, aunts and uncles you didn't know you had, can be such an expansive experience.

One thing I've learned from genealogy, we humans actually are just one big family. Which may explain why we are always fighting with each other. If backseat, road trip sibling squabbles are any measurement of human hostility, it's a wonder the race still survives!

Memorial Day was set aside to recognize our fallen veterans. I don't think there is a generation in my family that has not gone to some war somewhere. Each year we honor those family members who fought for our country. That is a good and right thing to do.

But I'd like to remind my readers that we have men and women serving right now in hostile situations. These soldiers carry a gun in one hand and a hammer in the other. Not only are they fighting to protect our country, they are helping build a foundation for the freedom of other people's countries. They go to war with sword and plowshare.

Recently I was sent an e-mail from my cousin who had received it from someone else. I cannot verify that what is in it is accurate, but it sure sounds good. Here are some "facts" presented in that e-mail, supposedly from an army medic from Iowa who served in Iraq.

(Over 400,000 kids have up-to-date immunizations. School attendance is up 80 percent from levels before the war. Over 1,500 schools have been renovated and rid of the weapons stored there so education can occur.

The port of Uhm Qasar was renovated so grain can be off-loaded from ships faster. The country had its first two- billion barrel export of oil in August. Over 4.5 million people have clean drinking water for the first time ever in Iraq.

The country now receives twice the electrical power it did before the war. 100 percent of the hospitals are open and fully staffed, compared to 35 percent before the war. Elections are taking place in every major city, and city councils are in place. Sewer and water lines are installed in every major city.

Over 60,000 police are patrolling the streets. Over 100,000 Iraqi civil defense police are securing the country. Over 80,000 Iraqi soldiers are patrolling the streets side by side with US soldiers. Over 400,000 people have telephones for the first time ever. Students are taught field sanitation and hand washing techniques to prevent the spread of germs.

An interim constitution has been signed. Girls are allowed to attend school. Textbooks that don't mention Saddam are in the schools for the first time in 30 years. Our military men and women are wearing many different "hats" under their helmets these days. Unfortunately, they have to do all their good works with a fellow soldier watching their backs. How much faster the work would go if they could lay down their weapons and work with both hands! We need to remember that they are doing hard work in extreme heat. Right now they don't need flowers, they need sunblock, sunglasses, lip gloss, baby wipes, personal hygiene items, and letters of support from we folks back home. Please contact your local Veteran's groups to see how you can help.

Until the next time friends remember; honor the past, prepare for the future, and respect the present. After you place flowers and flags on fallen veterans, send encouragement, supplies, and prayers to those still fighting the good fight.