Or at the very least, save our history education.

This weekend, actually on Saturday, June 6, 2009, my husband was at the home improvement center getting mulch for our garden.  He noticed a woman a little younger than our mothers, pushing an older gentleman in a wheelchair.  He had lost his legs from the knees down.  As he was standing in line to pay, the woman and gentleman ended up in line behind him.  Also in line were a woman and her 4 year old child.  As my husband said “as only a 4 year old could ask” the child asked the wheelchair bound gentlemen what happened to his legs.  At first my husband was appauled that the mother hadn’t taught the child some tact in this type of situation, which I had to remind him that 4 year old children are curious and ask/say things generally without much thought.  The older gentleman, according to my husband, graciously answered the child’s question with the following response:  “I lost my legs 65 years ago today.”

As my husband is relaying this story to me, tears welled up in my eyes.  This man had fought for the world’s freedom and was there that fateful day 65 years ago storming the beaches of Normandy.  What my husband told me next outraged me, after the gentleman told the child he lost his legs 65 years ago “today,” the child’s mother asked “Doing what?”  (My husband, calmly bent down to the older man, took his hand, shook it, and said “Thank you.”

But, REALLY, young mother!  I couldn’t believe that someone wouldn’t know this.  Looking at this man, figuring his age, seeing his condition, could you not figure out he lost his legs in the war.  Had this woman been living under a rock…is the only thing she ever has on her TV children’s programming…during high school, did she not learn that June 6 is one of the most important days in World History?  REALLY!

I realize that there are many things from which to choose on the TV, but as adults we have to preserve self (not be selfish) but preserve things that keep us informed about world events.  On Saturday June 6, how could anyone miss that it was the 65th anniversary of D-Day?  There are just a few days in history that mean so much to this world – that we must remember, even when the generations who created the history of those days are gone, we must preserve the history of those days.

What Brad and Angelina did last week or last month or last year, that the new Star Trek movie was a huge hit this summer, or which team wins the 2009 NBA Finals will make no difference in another 65 years, but in the year 2074 D-Day will still matter.

This was one of those things that begs for this quote:  If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.