The Olympics loom. American eyes will turn to London, hoping for Olympic gold. As they do so, it will be worth remembering that this will be London’s second post-World War II Olympic Games, not the first, and that there are also medals to be won by comparing the condition of the U.K. on the last time the Games were held in London with its condition now.

In 1948, when London hosted the first post-war games, the U.K. was still one of the global Big Three. For all the immediate rationing with which Londoners then struggled, the government there still presided over an enormous empire, still oversaw its own sterling area in which the U.K. currency remained as acceptable as gold, and still managed what in 1948 remained the free world’s second strongest major economy. In the more than six decades since, absolute living standards in London have been transformed, as they have everywhere in the advanced industrial world; but in relative terms the U.K. has definitely slipped. Per capita living standards in London are lower now than in at least 9 other EU countries.[1] U.K. productivity per hour is currently 18 percent lower than in Germany and 16 percent lower than in France.[2] An empire that at its peak covered 12 million square miles and took in a quarter of the world’s population is now entirely gone.

Ah yes, trotting out those tired old lines:

”You were often blamed for a war you didn’t start, when you should have been commended for serving your country with valor. You were sometimes blamed for misdeeds of a few, when the honorable service of the many should have been praised. You came home and sometimes were denigrated, when you should have been celebrated

No matter how many times someone points out the myth of hippies spitting on vets just didn't happen in any numbers, that the protests were aimed at the Pentagon, not G.I. Joe, the story just won't die.

Apparently Obama missed one of the major vibes of the period, trying to end the war, trying to keep our neighbors from dying for no good reason. Are the kids at Kent State included in the remembrance of Memorial Day?

Just figured someone ought to write something about it.  I have never served in the military, nor have I lost anyone close to me as a result of their service.  My dad was in Korean War, but he never spoke about it (he didn't see actual combat, being stationed in Japan).  The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and all the other conflicts around the globe, are inevitably abstractions to me for the most part.  As with everyone who has a heart, I hate war.  It would be nice if life was so simple as that.

These pictures are some of the 60 photos from a blog on the website theBrigade, called Memorial Day...Home.  This website is cousin site to theChive website, which is one of the most popular sites globally out there.  Taking a trek through these sites I think reveals a facet of the American culture, both the good and the bad, the mundane and the profound.  But just pondering all of the pictures of this one blog is enough to make one ponder - what exactly is up to each of us alone.