We long to be remembered. Sometimes going to great effort to be remembered. Create a legacy, we are advised. As we prepare for Memorial Day, let us consider honoring those who have no legacy side by side with those who do. Let us memorialize those who have no one who remembers them. The unknown soldiers. Soldiers we regard as enemies. Let us honor them too. Those with no headstones. Mass graves. The last of a line. The unidentified victims of crime or poverty. Nothing for metal detectorists to locate. The recently extinct tribes as well as the long list of extinct and vanished tribes and civilizations not remembered, some with no trace at all. The other species that have gone extinct, known, and unknown, recent, and ancient. We honor them as our fellows. We must not forget them as we honor those whose memories we easily cherish.

photo credit Nick van den Berg, Unsplash