During Memorial Day weekend, the contours of American life tend to materialize in sharp relief.

The television news juxtaposes the stories of dead American soldiers against reports of rising gas prices and weekend traffic. Scenes showing neat rows of military tombstones segue into lines of motor vehicles clogging the nation's highways. The stunning carnage on American roadways -- about 500 people will be killed over the course of the long weekend -- make Najaf and Fallujah look downright safe.

Memorial Day is the official kick-off of the summer motoring season. More than 30 million Americans honor their war dead, fittingly, by piling into vehicles and heading out for weekend road trips. Though an increasing number of Americans will celebrate this year's Memorial Day grieving for fallen soldiers, for most of us, it's a day off work, a barbeque, or a family trip to the beach.

On Memorial Day the connection between our sprawling, motoring, energy-intensive way of life and the large U.S. military presence alongside our Middle East gas station, is more painfully clear than usual. Americans, for the most part, don't seem to want to see that connection. We don't want to think about the remarkably vast flow of cheap oil that is required to keep the American Way of Life up and running, Yet, Islamic militants are making it harder to ignore. In the last month, a coordinated strategy has emerged to violently sabotage oil infrastructure in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

Whether mourning at Arlington Cemetary or motoring to Walt Disney World, the underlying theme of this year's Memorial Day is sacrifice, suffering and pain--on the battle field and at the gas pump. We'll hear our national leaders and media pundits talking a lot about both of these issues this weekend. What we won't hear any of our leaders saying, is that unil we decide to make fundamental changes in the American Way of Life, the sacrifice, suffering and pain is only going to grow.

2:32 PM | Link |