When I was growing up, my hero was my mother. She came to this country from Peru at age 22 with little money and speaking no English. She had arrived in the summer, with two friends, to work and have an experience abroad. But when the end of the summer came, instead of packing up with her friends, my mother decided to stay. Truly, she'd known she was going to stay before she even left Peru.



She made a good life here, taught herself English, and worked hard. She agreed with my father that all their efforts should benefit the children, and so my brother and I had a great time growing up. We traveled all over Europe before I was 10, had season theatre tickets throughout our childhood, and ate probably better than anyone in this country ever has who didn't have a professional chef as a parent.

Mom read poetry, did batik with neighbors, knitted me some six dozen sweaters, fixed the plumbing, and screamed at the TV during the Super Bowl. You've never really experienced American football until you've heard a woman with a Spanish accent screaming for everyone to please stop hitting Lynn Swan.

Two years ago Mom died of cancer. A pain in her leg metastasized quickly and took her life only two months after she was diagnosed. Her recipes and her wild garden are her legacy, along with my brother and me. And in a similar way, this country of ours is the legacy of all those who broke their backs for an idea. Let's please not tarnish that idea by devoting any time to the pathetic story of someone we know only because her father is rich.

Instead, let's turn our attention to the men and women of the armed forces, and to their families, who face daily stresses most of us cannot even imagine. Or to those who make up the working poor--people who struggle in multiple low-paying jobs and live in cramped housing just to get by. Let's focus on teachers, who shape the future of our country every day. Let's focus on what matters and leave what doesn't to fade away like beer stains on Royal Street after a Mardi Gras parade.

"...gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime.... Let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us as sacred charges upon the Nation's gratitude,--the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan."

--General John Logan, General Order No. 11, 5 May 1868

One way to recognize Memorial Day: follow the instructions above as Taps is played.

Click here to listen to Taps.

The U.S. Military is embracing YouTube--and simultaneously banning soldiers from accessing the video sharing site while overseas. Netscape Navigator _kam0_ submitted this BBC story yesterday, which describes the military's new official channel on YouTube. About two months old, the Multi-National Iraq-Force channel gives the military an opportunity to highlight positive progress in Iraq. According to the BBC's Laura Smith-Spark: