The last Monday in May is a unique holiday. Memorial Day does not generate as much holiday enthusiasm as Christmas, Easter, or Independence Day, perhaps because it is more an observance than a celebration. This important holiday is not just another “day off” but a day to remember those who have lost their lives in the military service of our country. This is a day to remember those who, according to Henry Ward Beecher, “hover as a cloud of witnesses above this Nation.”
In a culture that is increasingly attention-deficient, remembering is a painful but necessary discipline. Remembering historical facts should help us to remain consciously aware of the harsh realities of global conflict. Revisiting stories from the battlefield may enable us to learn from both the successes and the failures of our national ancestry. When we remember the fallen we keep alive the individual and corporate legacies of valor and courage that inspire and challenge us to be responsible citizens of the free world.
To fail to remember is to develop a convenient amnesia that eventually robs succeeding generations of acquaintance with our national heritage. To fail to remember creates a contagious apathy that leads to a neglect of both our freedom and our citizenship. To fail to remember can produce a false sense of protection and a perceived exemption from future warfare. A loss of memory eventually leads to a loss of national identity. Remembering is a painful but necessary discipline, a discipline that forges vision from memory, and a discipline that extracts wisdom from knowledge.
In The Roadmender Margaret Fairless Barber suggests that “To look backward for a while is to refresh the eye, to restore it, and to render it the more fit for its prime function of looking forward.”
This year take time to observe Memorial Day…A day to remember the past with gratitude and to look to the future with hope and faith.
No comments:
Post a Comment