It’s not just an excuse for a three-day weekend or a day for barbecue and beer.

Memorial Day is a time for Americans to connect with our national history and core values by honoring those who gave their lives fighting for this country.

This special day began as a salute to fallen soldiers of the Civil War. Some say it started in Mississippi when a group of grieving mothers and wives who were placing flowers on graves in a Confederate cemetery noticed a neglected graveyard for Union soldiers.

Knowing these ignored tombstones marked the resting places of young men equally loved and missed, the Southern women cleaned the Union cemetery and decorated the gravesites with flowers. In 1868, Decoration Day was declared a national holiday. Later, the name was changed to Memorial Day.

In 1996, Carmella LaSpada, founder of the humanitarian organization No Greater Love, met with a group of children on the Mall in Washington, D.C. When she asked them what Memorial Day was, they responded, "That's the day the pool opens."

Determined that children should know why they're free and who paid for their freedom, she came up with the idea for a "moment of remembrance," which was adopted by Congress in 2000. Today, you and your family can participate in this National Moment of Remembrance by pausing at 3 p.m. local time to observe a minute of silence devoted to contemplation or prayer in honor of our fallen heroes.

During my minute I’m going to think about and thank the thousands of American troops who are in harm’s way in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.