In Memoriam
Welcome to the annual Memorial Day Dance.
In deference to Don Felder, Glenn Frey & Don Henley; “Some dance to remember, some dance to forget”.
What began some 140 years ago in 1868 as Decoration Day when women decorated the graves of their loved ones lost on the battlefields of the Civil War, has now evolved into Memorial Day where almost everyone gets a day off work to barbeque, drink beer and maybe watch a ballgame.
The reality is that the families and loved ones of those who died in service to our country and in defense of our freedom don’t need a special day to remember. For them every day is a memorial day. Every day is a day of mourning and missing, a day of why me and what ifs. A day of pride in their hero’s service and bitter grief in their loss. The families, friends and those who served with the heroes that paid the ultimate price have 365 memorial days each year.
Memorial Day is for those that have been fortunate enough to enjoy the fruits of these men and women’s sacrifice without personally feeling the extent of their loss. For years Decoration Day was celebrated on May 30th, but that was too inconvenient. So in 1967 Congress changed the official name of the holiday to Memorial Day and in 1968 they moved its observance to the last Monday in May to create a three day weekend. It was in the climate of the Vietnam War that the observance of Memorial Day along with Veterans Day took on the same muted national significance of Washington’s Birthday.
Oh sure, there are plenty of parades where Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts march along with high school marching bands, old war veterans and politicians of every level of importance waving to the onlookers from the back of convertible cars. There will be a moment of silence held at most of the sporting events and some special observances at local churches. But the significance of exactly what we are supposed to remember and the magnitude of the loss associated with it is, for the most part, lost to the feigned pageantry.
We no longer hold the sacrifice of those who died in service to America with deep and abiding national reverence because we no longer view our freedom as anything other than a birthright. Most believe we are free today simply by our willpower alone and forget the years of war and struggle and sacrifice that allowed us to gain our freedom in the first place and safeguarded it from all foes both foreign and domestic to this day. The liberal wing of our political system has successfully made the history of our country’s freedom a moot point outside of a classroom.
The best example of this is the recent history of the democratic freedom our brave military secured in Iraq. After only two years liberals were calling Iraq a lost cause, a quagmire, already lost, unwinnable and a mistake made possible only by the mendacity of a president looking to line the pockets of his oil company buddies. How quickly they forget the inveterate sacrifices made against military and dictatorial mad men throughout our history, and that the benefits we enjoy today are a direct result of those sacrifices.
Every freedom we enjoy was paid for by the blood of America’s sons and daughters. The neat and peaceful rows of military headstones hide the chaos and carnage that brought them to their final resting place. But their bravery and selflessness should never be underestimated or most unforgivably forgotten altogether. As liberals redefine the rights of those who would gladly add thousands more headstones to these pristine rows I ask, what would you be willing to do to save American lives?
I plan to write more about that topic later this week, but for now I will simply quote the man whose wife Mary suggested the idea of Memorial Day as a day of national remembrance, Commander in Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, General John A. Logan, who on May 30th 1870 said “This Memorial Day, on which we decorate their graves with the tokens of love and affection, is no idle ceremony with us, to pass away an hour; but it brings back to our minds in all their vividness the fearful conflicts of that terrible war in which they fell as victims…. Let us, then, all unite in the solemn feelings of the hour, and tender with our flowers the warmest sympathies of our souls! Let us revive our patriotism and love of country by this act, and strengthen our loyalty by the example of the noble dead around us….”
Take time to remember.
