Many of us pay scant attention to international news.

After all, there is enough happening right here at home, in our own cities, states and country, to keep us watchful and wary.

But tomorrow, as we honor our fallen on Memorial Day, we should remember that when a soldier serves, so, too, does his or her family.

Just as generation after generation of families have been before them, in times of war and times of peace throughout our nation’s history, they are ever-vigilant. When there is even a hint of trouble in some foreign land, their fears are heightened. They are paying keen attention to those international trouble spots that the rest of us ignore.

Some know that their sons and daughters are, this very day, in harm’s way. Others, for security reasons, do not even know where their loved ones are serving.

How can we help them? We can pray for their soldiers’ safety. We can offer a word of encouragement when we see them in the grocery store, at church, on a downtown street.

We can let them know that we know that they are serving, too.