“We have so much to be grateful for this holiday weekend,” Maj. Gen. Mark J. Schindler, adjutant general of Pennsylvania, told the crowd gathered at Lycoming County Veterans Memorial Park in Williamsport, on one morning in May. “Remember what it took for us to assemble here.”

While the major general was speaking on Memorial Day, commemorating the lives Americans have sacrificed for our country, the sentiment of gratitude and remembrance applies to Veterans Day as well.

This weekend, we appreciate and remember all the men and women who serve.

One difference is that Memorial Day should inspire us — our communities and our nation — to strive to better support the families left behind by the men and women who make that ultimate sacrifice. This weekend, we should look for the ways we can better support those in our armed services who return from their obligations.

In both cases, the days single out for honoring people who represent the very best of our nation’s history and culture.

In both cases, again, the days should solemnly motivate every American to do what we can for those who were willing to do so much for us and for our nation.

We hope such efforts can start by attending a parade, ceremony, visit to a veterans’ memorial or wreath-laying.

We hope even more strongly that it can continue, into the future, with personally expressing how we feel to the veterans and veterans’ families in our lives and with a dedication to ensuring both veterans and the families of fallen veterans have the resources and compassion they need.

And we hope that such efforts will not be reserved for two days of the year but are part of a greater commitment to expressing that profound thankfulness and to raising future generations to understand and cherish that gratitude.

It is what our veterans, in the present and future, deserve.