(no subject)
Today is Memorial Day. Do you know what the purpose of the day is?
Not many people do nowadays, or at least not many care. It's become a reason for a 3-day weekend, an excuse for sales, the unofficial "beginning of summer." It's been a long time since our country has had a reason to remember why there is a Memorial Day. And it is not a good or happy thing that we have so much reason to remember why this year.
The purpose of Memorial Day, originally at least, was to honor those who have died in service to the country. It began as a remembrance of Civil War dead, and evolved to become a day of remembrance for all of those who have died in our military service.
When I was 10 years old, my mother took me to the battlefields of Gettysburg for Memorial Day. It was a profound and wise thing to do. I saw the ghosts there--not literal ghosts, but the ghosts of loss and pain and the horror of war and conflict. Since then I have always known what war means. Whether done for good reasons or bad reasons, it means loss and pain and horror.
On this Memorial Day, give a moment if you can in thought of those who have died in war and conflict. It doesn't matter if you're "for" or "against" the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and anywhere else. Just give a moment of thought for each life lost, and each life affected by that loss. Give them the honor of having their loss and sacrifice remembered, and of knowing that it matters, even for a moment.
Not many people do nowadays, or at least not many care. It's become a reason for a 3-day weekend, an excuse for sales, the unofficial "beginning of summer." It's been a long time since our country has had a reason to remember why there is a Memorial Day. And it is not a good or happy thing that we have so much reason to remember why this year.
The purpose of Memorial Day, originally at least, was to honor those who have died in service to the country. It began as a remembrance of Civil War dead, and evolved to become a day of remembrance for all of those who have died in our military service.
When I was 10 years old, my mother took me to the battlefields of Gettysburg for Memorial Day. It was a profound and wise thing to do. I saw the ghosts there--not literal ghosts, but the ghosts of loss and pain and the horror of war and conflict. Since then I have always known what war means. Whether done for good reasons or bad reasons, it means loss and pain and horror.
On this Memorial Day, give a moment if you can in thought of those who have died in war and conflict. It doesn't matter if you're "for" or "against" the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and anywhere else. Just give a moment of thought for each life lost, and each life affected by that loss. Give them the honor of having their loss and sacrifice remembered, and of knowing that it matters, even for a moment.