Favorite Quotes, Rants and Observations

pause to remember (memorial day)

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“A pause; it endured horribly.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald

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“If we cannot come together to pause, to respect our dead and the heroic lives of meaning they led, then ours is truly a civilization lost.“

Mark McKinnon

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Ok.

I am guilty.

And I feel guilty.

It is Memorial Day here in the USofA and … well … you know … I sometimes skip lightly over the surface of what Memorial Day was established for.

The day is not to thank those who serve in the military … but to remember those who served in the military.

Specifically, those who provided what Abraham Lincoln suggested ‘gave the last full measure of devotion.’

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“The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Abraham Lincoln

November 19, 1863

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Anyway.

My thought today, and its associated feeling of guilt, arose when I read this article in the Washington Post from a Marine veteran suggesting “I hate happy memorial day.”

It is a powerfully written op-ed.

And she is correct.

Not enough people take a moment and remember the meaning of Memorial Day <beyond the sales blasting over the radio> and, more importantly, the ones we should be memorializing.

I took a moment and tried to find excuses for us.

I found my first excuse in something I wrote last year for Memorial Day:

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I remind everyone of this today because while sometimes we Americans invest a lot of energy trying to convince ourselves that we are the most dysfunctional and divisive country in the world we may want to invest some of that same energy reminding ourselves that because we stand so unequivocally for ‘freedom of’ that can make us appear dysfunctional & divisive … that is sometimes simply the natural repercussions of a culture embracing, and constantly struggling with, ‘freedom of.’

Supporting that belief and right is not only a responsibility our military upholds globally … we enjoy it domestically.

Freedom forces involvement <either mentally or physically>. And I believe when people are involved in choices, or even just voicing opinions, they feel more involved in the bigger picture of what is happening … and are proportionately happier.

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While I do not doubt for one minute the patriotism of 99.9% of Americans I do see some confusion with regard to what America is, was … and will be … as well as what those who have served actually died for.

The same 99.9% who feel pride in the flag also feel some dissatisfaction in where we are as a country. In that I believe we sometimes focus on our perceived <or real> dysfunctions rather than all the freedoms and luxurious privileges we currently are fortunate enough to have.

We haggle over aspects & infringements of specific ‘freedoms’ ignoring the fact we have the freedom at all.

We should memorialize the ones who didn’t fight over the second clause and the second sentence and the second word in some amendment but rather they laid down their lives for a country with bigger freedoms in mind. They didn’t fight, and die, over words but ideas.

They deserve a moment of reflection for the idea that makes USofA.

And then I found my second excuse.

99% do not know anything about war personally. We only know Warcraft version, the movie version, the book version and the romanticized version. Maybe 2% of US citizens are involved in military and less has had direct involvement in war.

Our concept of hardship is … well … conceptual. Our sacrifice is next to nothing. This doesn’t mean we don’t care but we lack the depth of understanding to truly personalize it.

They deserve a moment of reflection for the hardship they chose in the name of USofA … a hardship most of us are never required to assume … because they did.

Neither of these are excuses. Well. At least real excuses.

We should reserve some space for silence … for a pause to remember.

In fact.

The National Moment of Remembrance Act encourages a minute of silence at 3pm local time on Memorial Day.

So, maybe take a moment to pause and remember.

Maybe just one pause in the day … one where we can sit, stand or lay on the grass and we can take a minute or two to converse silently with the ghosts of those who gave “the fill measure of devotion.”

And that moment maybe makes each ghost a little bit more real as a human being.

I cannot guarantee that this moment will not be endured “horribly” for the ghosts of those who have come before and done their duty must stand before us and demand the responsibility of the task before each and every one of us.

But … pause we must.

But … listen we must.

But … remember we must.

It is for us, the living, to insure these dead shall not have died in vain.

… It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain

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May 30, 2016 by Bruce

Written by Bruce

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pause to remember (memorial day)

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pause to remember (memorial day)

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