Start The Presses:

When I was a kid, the coming of Memorial Day meant so much more than it does now. It heralded the coming of summer: lazy days, road trips, swimming pools and sunburns. My brain could begin to unclench. Soon, I would sleep in longer, think less, and enjoy more. The anticipation of that heaven was almost as good as days themselves.

Now it mostly means a chance to catch up on chores and bills, spend time with friends, slap on some sunscreen and get outside for a change. But, primarily, it means a three-day weekend. And beer. Definitely beer.

But as our country’s long and ruinous wars soldier on, I’ve decided to change my focus for this Memorial Day. Instead of just focusing on the men and women who fought and died for the United States, I’m instead choosing to focus on all those who perished due to war.

It is, as you can imagine, a much bigger number, and one that is remarkably difficult to nail down. Even if we stick to war dead since 1900, the numbers range between 185 million and 240 million. That is a number that is mind-numbing in its bigness, one essentially impossible to comprehend.

The 20th century is generally held as the bloodiest in human history. More people were born last century than had ever been seen previously, so it makes sense, though worrisome, that the century saw the most people die violently. Even more troubling: Genocide was not invented in the 20th century, but the last 100 years have seen its techniques perfected.

Some days, it just seems easier to turn away and simply hope it gets better. But think about the implications of this, summed up horribly, and succinctly, by Joseph Stalin: “One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic.” Once we accept that mass death and genocide are simply part of this world, they are. Only by acknowledging and remembering those who died can we hope to save others.

On April 24, another memorial was held. This was held to commemorate the Armenian Genocide, one of the few such atrocities denied by its perpetrator. The refusal of the Turkish government to acknowledge its own history deepens the pain of the act, and makes true reconciliation difficult, if not impossible.