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Memorial Day 2013

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Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, was instated after the U.S. Civil War to commemorate and honor the people who gave life and limb in military service. Those people made the ultimate sacrifice. It may not have even been for a cause they believed in (though in most cases, of course, it was), but they gave their lives nevertheless, and are to be honored for that.

At the same time, I refuse to glorify war. People will come at me and say “but they fought for your freedom!” That was true for the Revolution, for the Civil War and for the two World Wars. It is not true for the current war, nor was it for many of the other wars in which we have been involved in this century and the last. They had nothing to do with our freedom and everything to do with our interference in global affairs. American favor changes like the wind, and we often find ourselves fighting wars that we ourselves created one way or another.

In the end, whatever the reason, we must finally learn that violence is not our salvation; war is not the thing that keeps us free. To those who died in service, whether by an enemy’s hand or their own, I bow to you: you did what you believed was right.

To those who keep sending them to their deaths, I offer you a mirror clear enough to see into your own soul. Look carefully, for you are the problem.

By Rebekkah Hilgraves

*RadHaus Solutions*: ActiveCampaign Certified Consultant. Marketo Certified Expert. Solutions Architect. Marketing automation implementation, integration, best practices, governance. Marketing automation, with a heavy dose of nerd. http://radhaus.solutions

*RadHaus Studio*: Broadcast and recording engineer, media production manager, cable monkey, marketing dork, project manager, chief cook and bottle-washer. http://radhaus.studio

A seasoned trainer, marketer, web producer and front-end developer, solutions architect, writer, consultant, broadcaster, recording engineer, and public speaker, I've worked in eLearning, Instructional Design, CMS, Marketing Automation and CRM (especially Marketo, ActiveCampaign, and SimplyCast), content delivery and management, taxonomy, SEO, media production and technical support. I bring a unique blend of experience and expertise.

Through RadHaus (formerly SheTech and Company), and in partnership with ELK // Obscura Media, and Prove digital marketing agencies, I have supported enterprise clients in marketing automation implementation and operations, digital marketing and data strategies. I help design and operationalize custom integrated marketing programs for businesses, working with audience/user group segmentation, SEO, web analytics, design and UX best practices, multimedia, social media and other strategic web design and delivery mechanisms. I also do hands-on media production and arts marketing, allowing me to remain involved in the arts.

As part of Marketo's education team, I managed the production and publication of eLearning modules, and was a key member of the LMS implementation and certification development teams.

A consultant on the Web Operations team for OppenheimerFunds in New York, I offered technical, production, and strategy support on a major web site redesign project.

As Managing Editor for an online news magazine published by NetQoS, I supervised and managed the migration of the site from a legacy content management system to a .NET-based commercial system. I maintained the site and the content, updating the magazine with new content from industry analysts and technical experts on a weekly basis.

My earliest foray into both technology and training was as a software trainer for logistics company Cheetah Software Systems, helping create an implementation and training practice standard for the company, and building their user documentation.

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