A Tribute for Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day - a day that is set aside each year to focus upon those who served our nation in the Armed Forces: Marine Corp, Navy, Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, and National Guard.  It is a day filled with flag-lined driveways in cemeteries.  It is a day filled with gun-salutes honoring those who died while in the line of service to our nation.  It is a day filled with speeches from those who wish to capitalize on what freedom really means. 


Why do we need a Memorial Day?  The dictionary defines "memorial" as "serving to help people to remember."  It seems that it is easy for us to forget that which is important.  I am reminded of the many "memorials" the children of Israel erected upon their entrance into the Promised Land.  Their memorials were usually just a pile of rocks, but the meaning was just the same" "Don't forget what happened here!"  So, the purpose of Memorial Day is just that - to create an opportunity when we can remember that which could most easily be forgotten. 


According to the Memorial Day website, the very first Memorial Day was observed on May 30, 1868.  It was ordered by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic.  He stated, "The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land."  Why was May 30 chosen?  It was because it wasn't the anniversary of any particular battle.  The first state to recognize Memorial Day as a holiday was New York in 1873, but by 1890 all northern states celebrated Memorial Day.  The southern states did not share in such observances until after World War I when they recognized all war dead.  (www.usmemorialday.org).


I remember as a young boy spending the day with my grandparents.  After a festive dinner of fried chicken, with all the fixings, as only my grandmother could make, we would load into cars and head to the cemeteries with armfuls of peony flowers.  With reverence we stood beside the gravesites of men and women whom I never knew, but who were a part of who I was.  We paused to remember the heritage that was passed down from them.  I can close my eyes and still hear those quiet breezes that seem to be a ubiquitous part of any cemetery, along with those little flags fluttering proudly those colors of red, white, and blue. 


Memorials - remind us of what was right about our past.  Memorials - remind us of what was wrong about our past.  We are living in an age when there is a storied attempt to erase that part of the past which we have deemed to have been wrong.  Just these past few weeks, the City of New Orleans removed all statues that celebrated the Confederate heroes of the Civil War.  It was almost as if the city leaders said, "If we remove them, perhaps the memories of that awful period of time will just go away."  Historians are rewriting history to whitewash those aspects of history we want to forget.  But, as hard as we might try, history cannot be sanitized.  History is what it is! 


So raise the flag proudly today.  Pay honor to someone who has served his/her country well.  Let them know that you are grateful for their sacrifice.  Friends, how we need to remember this old adage: "Freedom is never free."  The acres of white engraved headstones that are Arlington National Cemetery, that are Fort Snelling National Cemetery, that are Normandy National Cemetery, that are countless thousands of other cemeteries remind us that "freedom is never free."


Perhaps, instead of tearing down "memorials" we should learn from them.  We may not like the stories they have to tell us, but we must never forget.