May 28, 2007
Memorial Day
For many people Memorial Day doesn’t seem to personally touch their lives. They’ve not lost a loved one on the battlefield or served in the military themselves. Often there is no understanding of the sacrifice and blood that was shed for this country – and for them. As a Military Veteran, I honor those who’ve lost their lives in service. I’m also a Christian Veteran and I honor those who, in persecution, gave their life for the cause of Christ. The church, not unlike many organizations today, lives in the moment and plans for the future. However, we are remiss if we fail to look to the past and honor those who’ve left us a Christian heritage.
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Gail;
-----My memory has always frustrated me. I know the generalization that says we only retain some fifteen to twenty percent of what we read or hear. But I also have been acquainted with people who seem to be walking libraries because they retain so much more of what they experience. Our human inefficiency of retention does not involve information only. Unused feelings, attitudes, habits, and skills also fade with the passing of time. Of course, there is always this onslaught of new ones accompanied by the excitement of adventure, which most people choose rather than the familiarity of “been there done that“.
-----But attitudes and skills feast on “been there done that”. It is the practice from repetition that keeps them sharp, as well as adds more to them. And the fact that much of what we do requires us to carry forward a practiced discipline is the last impetus which keeps many of us doing the old familiar things that provide that practice. It begins to frighten me as I notice Memorial Day becoming more and more an excuse for another day off with big burgers on the grille, rather than a solemn day of contemplation given to those who have fought and do fight for what is right.
-----And here is the key to what is frightening: it is nearly out of bounds to consider or speak of the concept of “right” because it now always changes according to what is new. Yet, what is old remains. Tyrants, mass hysterias, and the binary orbit of a political party and pop media all threaten to sink the delicate balances of well-mannered civilizations into the ruthless turmoil of cultural barbarism. The greatest danger to our way of life is our getting so lost in the adventure of progression that we forget about the perseverance of the past and become defeated by what we once experienced, then forgot.
-----The moments of thought at Memorial Day are the practice that keep fresh attitudes which are important to our self preservation. No war buries an enemy in a grave from which it can not again rise. The Civil War did not bury secessionism. In spite of the Mexican-American War, some groups (such as La Rasa) believe that the West belongs to Mexico. WW II did not bury the Nazis, they are with us today. The cold war did not end communism, in fact Chavez is now giving it a good life in Venezuela. And the war on terrorism has not even really begun, and already we are tiring of shoveling the dirt. Danger is a constant part of reality in this world, and only realistic attitudes properly sharpened by the respect for what we have learned and for those who have taught it to us will give us a fighting chance to survive.
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