Dear Abby: Take a moment to remember the fallen

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/life/stories/2009/05/24/2_ABBY0524.ART_ART_05-24-09_E10_4DDQPN5.html?sid=101

DEAR ABBY Take a moment to remember the fallen Sunday, May 24, 2009 3:36 AM By JEANNE PHILLIPS Dear Abby: Tomorrow is Memorial Day. Please invite your millions of readers to observe the National Moment of Remembrance by pausing wherever they are at 3 p.m. in honor of our fallen. Memorial Day (first called Decoration Day) began in 1868 to remember those killed in the Civil War. Since World War I, Memorial Day has been a time to honor all those who have died in service to our nation, from the Revolutionary War to the present. To unite the country in remembrance, Congress officially established the National Moment of Remembrance in 2000. This act of unity is a time of reflection and commitment to honor America's fallen. More than a million men and women have died for our freedom. Their sacrifices for us live on in each constitutional right we enjoy. On Memorial Day, major-league baseball games will stop, Amtrak trains will blow their whistles, and 6,200 Buglers Across America will play taps, while citizens everywhere pause to honor those who sacrificed for our freedoms. The National Moment of Remembrance is a small down payment in our debt to remember these precious souls. -- Carmella La Spada, executive director, White House Commission on Remembrance Dear Carmella: I hope my readers take your letter to heart. Each of the men and women who laid down their lives for this country was someone loved and cherished by family and friends. They are deeply missed. We are diminished by their deaths and enriched by the example of their courage and dedication. Dear Abby: When I was growing up in the late 1960s and '70s, I heard very little profanity used. Today, it seems accepted. My husband often uses it even though he knows I hate it. When he's mad at me, the filth is directed my way. That may be why profanity upsets me so much. Sometimes it makes me sick to my stomach. Also, the most recent book by my favorite author includes many instances of the "f-word," which she has never done before. I'm tempted to write her and say that I am put off by the language. Should I? -- Non-Cusser in Nebraska Dear Non-Cusser: When filth is directed at someone, it qualifies as verbal abuse, a weapon used to show contempt and destroy another person's sense of self-worth. The swearer, besides being a bully, isn't smart enough to come up with vocabulary that adequately describes feelings powerfully enough to have them appreciated. Because the verbal abuse your husband hurls at you sickens you, it's time to look at why you tolerate it. And write the author and tell her that you thought her book was a real turnoff. Write Dear Abby -- who appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays -- at Universal Press Syndicate, in care of The Columbus Dispatch, P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, Calif. 90069; for a reply, enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Or visit www.DearAbby.com.