From: Jess Minton (pd.minton@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Sat May 27 2006 - 06:14:14 PDT
We are proud to share with you this thoughtful and though-provoking
tribute to service men and women on Memorial Day.
Gordon "Nick" Mueller
President and CEO
The National World War II Museum
New Orleans
http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,98680,00.html
Christopher Michel | May 26, 2006
This morning I opened the paper and a series of circulars spilled
onto my lap - bright, colored pages with bold fonts and frenetic
language: Now Through Memorial Day Only! and A Don't-Miss
Memorial Day Sales Event! As I took a deep breath and gathered up the
pages that had spilled to the floor, at once it struck me: We owe
more than commerce to those who sacrificed the balance of their lives
for their country. It is time to take back Memorial Day.
Memorial Day is meant to be a solemn occasion, a uniquely military
holiday - the only one that honors fallen soldiers. But since the
first one on May 30, 1868, a little after the Civil War, then known
as Decoration Day, when flowers were placed on the graves of soldiers
from both the North and the South, the quiet reverence of Memorial
Day has slowly been lost to the noise of commerce and the American
pursuit of recreation. This did not happen overnight. It snuck up on
us. And it's not necessarily the fault of the American people
who time and again have proved themselves patriots.
Even more surprising is that this disappointing trend hasn't
ebbed since the Long War began more than four years ago. Today the
solemnity once associated with this day should be closer to the
surface. Our nation is at war, which is to say our friends, family,
and neighbors are fighting. Some of them do not make it home. In
recent years, too many Americans have been personally touched by the
sacrifice of battle. But the unfortunate reality is that for most
people, the war remains a distant concept, something that happens on
TV.
Losing brave Americans on fields of strife is not a new phenomenon.
It is part of our heritage. For over 225 years, our troops have made
the ultimate sacrifice for what they believed was worth more than
their own lives: Freedom. Not just the notion of freedom or the sound
bite called forth in politically expedient ways, but freedom
practiced by Americans every day.
This freedom is a gift across time, given most often anonymously. And
now it is Memorial Day. How can Americans take it back and do right
by the valor that created this day?
By action. For starters, the National Moment of Remembrance
resolution asks that at 3 PM local time on Memorial Day all Americans
should voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a moment
of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for
a moment of silence.
Beyond that, Americans can honor the dead by supporting the living,
especially those who serve. Send a note or visit the family of a
service member who has died. Visit a veteran who is convalescing. Make
a donation to the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, Armed
Forces Relief Trust, or the Armed Services YMCA. Volunteer to work
with local veterans groups. Encourage your employer to publicly
recognize the veterans who work with you. Better yet, commit to hire
veterans or military spouses in the coming year.
Visit the graves of fallen soldiers. Leave a flower on the stone.
Consider the grave and behold the cost of freedom.
Or simply shake the hand of a Soldier. Support for the troops is more
than a sticker on an SUV. Whatever we do, let us make it personal,
not commercial.
Let us take back Memorial Day, not for abstract ideas or guilt for
having forgotten, but to pay a debt. To remember - and to act on the
memory - is the least we can do for the men and women who said,
"I will die so strangers' lives will be better"
Make Memorial Day a personal reflection of a stranger's costly
gift.
Mr. Michel is a former Naval Flight Officer in the United States
Navy, and founder and chairman of Military.com.
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