Memorial Day – A Reflection

Memorial Day is meant to be a day for reflection, a day set aside from the normal flow of life so that we may honor those who fell in service to our country, and all of our honored dead.

 The meaning of this day has changed a great-deal since it was founded.

 Memorial Day was established with the specific intention of honoring the African-American soldiers who fought and died during the Civil War, those women and men who were born-free, as well as those who had been enslaved; men and women, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters who gave everything to keep the United States whole, and to make it free.

 Memorial Day was established for them, for those who died hoping for an America that was more the stuff of dreams than anything else. They died for these United States, for a vision of it that they prayed for, hoped for, wanted desperately for themselves and for their children and their children’s children…we got something different.

 We got this reality, this imperfect union, we got an America still in a state of becoming, one in which the quality of life that a person experiences depends more or less on where they are born and what color their skin is, or what class they belong to, rather than on the principles which govern our system of justice, such as equal treatment before the law.

 Those women and men we honor today, for good or ill they died for us; they died for promises that went un-realized, for dreams that have been deferred, as our great poet Langston Hughes wrote in Harlem[i]:

 What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore—

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over—

like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

 We have yet to repay those good people for whom Memorial Day was founded; we have yet to see the hopes they cherished realized for the America of their dreams:

 America, daughter of liberty…America the true and the good…America the arbiter of justice, the best possible version of ourselves living in an America that could be…but only will be if, we pursue the dream of her, and not allow it to be deferred

 In the modern era, Memorial Day is meant to honor all of our dead: our soldiers and sailors and airmen, our police and firefighters; we honor them.

 We honor them and their sacrifice as we must, we honor all of them who died upholding our values and ideals; we honor them in recognition of the fact that we are one people descended from many ethnicities, from different nationalities, and that together we are committed to the central-truth of our political system, which is to say that for as long as we draw breath, we have an absolute right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and that all other rights are subordinate to these. 

 We are called upon to honor everyone who has given their life in public service.

 We honor our teachers and the good works of ordinary people, the essential workers, our friends and neighbors, we honor the sacrifice of everyone, known to us and unknown…immigrant, resident or citizen.

 On this day of all days, I ask you not to make the mistake of thinking that it is our service women and men who keep us free. It has been at least sixty years since America faced an “existential” threat from a foreign power. We are not kept free through armed conflict, not right now; we are not realistically threatened by Iran or North Korea, neither Russia nor China poses a military threat to us. The real threat we face is from ourselves, today we face an existential threat manifested by ignorance, short-sightedness and greed.

 Year after year it is the same old story, we stand in our own way; it is we, and we alone who can protect us from ourselves. Our apathy and selfishness, our disinterest and ignorance, our prejudice and hatred, our gluttony and cowardice, these are the most dangerous forces aligned against us, these are the forces that threaten our freedom…and there is no greater peril.

 These malign influences are more deadly than any other power; these forces, having gone unchecked by our elected representatives, encouraged by the traitor Donald Trump and his treasonous cohort, their nihilistic apathy and will to power is the most deadly force our democracy has ever faced. Here in America their grip is tightening. 

Listen!

 If you wish to honor our fallen dead, you must do your part to keep us free. You must participate in our democracy: vote, stay informed, organize, build alliances and collaborate.

 Our collective failure as citizens of the Unites States allowed a criminal, autocratic, demagogue to hold power in the White House, and nearly seize it from the people when he lost his bid for re-election.

 He is running again and this time he is clear about his desire to rule with unchecked authority, promising to establish a dictatorship on his first day in office should he win re-election. He has promised to censor the media and destroy the fourth estate, he has argued for absolute immunity from criminal prosecution as a sitting president, even to the extent of being able to assassinate his political opponents…he will do it if we let him.  

 All around the country his right-wing cronies are cooking up laws to make such a power grab easier. They do not intend to give power up if it comes back into their hands; this cannot be allowed to happen.

 This rank cynicism regarding America and our future is more dangerous to our lives and freedoms than any rag tag group of militants halfway around the world, more dangerous than immigrants looking for a better life for their families on our side of the border…it is the most dangerous threat we have ever faced.

 Honor our fallen dead. Not with cards and flowers and barbeques (but do those things because they are good to do in and of themselves), honor the fallen by standing up to racism and bigotry, by challenging religious zealotry, by setting limits to corporate greed, by teaching science and shunning xenophobia.

 Honer our fallen dead by standing up to defend the republic and our democratic way of life, participate in public discourse; do not lose heart and do not give up.

 Stand and be counted!

 The task in front of us is to rebuild America and reform our institutions; we must do this for the sake of all Americans and all future generations of Americans. We must take responsibility for our freedom, protect it and pass it down to our children, and their children, we must broaden the franchise of citizenship and promote human rights around the world.

 Take up the work and participate, do it everyday, remember the fallen and carry on with the struggle!

 There is not time like the present.

  

Veteran, U.S.N., Hospital Corps, 1990 – 1994

 

[i] Langston Hughes, "Harlem" from The Collected Works of Langston Hughes. Copyright © 2002 by Langston Hughes. Reprinted by permission of Harold Ober Associates, Inc.