Posted by
peripheral on Monday, May 25, 2009 7:42:39 AM
From My Perspective - - -
An old Ballad from an Off-Broadway Show in the 1960s – The Fantasticks
– repeats a phrase: “Try To Remember When Life Was So Tender…Our hearts
should Remember...Try To Remember, And If You Remember…” An
oft-repeated Statement: "Those who cannot remember the past are
condemned to repeat it." is an appropriate one for our day and time.
Today (May 25th) is designated Memorial Day – a time to Remember those
who died in the military when they had been called into war to preserve
freedom. Sadly, the clutter of ones activities can blur and cloud the
meaning and purpose of pausing to Remember.
From Wikipedia: “Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a
day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service.
There are many stories as to its actual beginnings…While Waterloo N.Y.
was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President
Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it's difficult to prove conclusively the
origins of the day…Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868
by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the
Republic…and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were
placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington
National Cemetery…It is now celebrated in almost every State on the
last Monday in May…
There have been rallying cries over the years from “Remember The Alamo”
to “Remember Pearl Harbor” to “Remember 9/11”… General Douglas
MacArthur eloquently shared some meaningful words on May 12, 1962 at
West Point: “…Duty, Honor, Country: Those three hallowed words
reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will
be. They are your rallying points: to build courage when courage seems
to fail; to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith;
to create hope when hope becomes forlorn…Unhappily, I possess neither
that eloquence of diction, that poetry of imagination, nor that
brilliance of metaphor to tell you all that they mean. The unbelievers
will say they are but words, but a slogan, but a flamboyant phrase.
Every pedant, every demagogue, every cynic, every hypocrite, every
troublemaker, and I am sorry to say, some others of an entirely
different character, will try to downgrade them even to the extent of
mockery and ridicule. As I listened to those songs of the glee club, in
memory's eye I could see those staggering columns of the First World
War, bending under soggy packs, on many a weary march from dripping
dusk to drizzling dawn, slogging ankle-deep through the mire of
shell-shocked roads, to form grimly for the attack, blue-lipped,
covered with sludge and mud, chilled by the wind and rain, driving home
to their objective, and for many, to the judgment seat of God. I do not
know the dignity of their birth, but I do know the glory of their
death. They died unquestioning, uncomplaining, with faith in their
hearts, and on their lips the hope that we would go on to victory.
Always, for them: Duty, Honor, Country; always their blood and sweat
and tears, as we sought the way and the light and the truth…”
War is a blight and tragedy upon our planet! Things get broken and
destroyed; people get wounded, or captured, or tortured, or killed;
families get separated; etc. A core value shared by Abraham Lincoln and
later emblazoned on a US Army Poster during World War II was: “Right Is
Might.” It is the commitment to that which is “Right” that needs to be
Remembered and serve as our motivation. Righteousness exalts a nation…
The prayers of a Righteous man avail much… As Joshua prepared the
nation for his departure, he shares a basic premise for them to
remember (Joshua 24:13-17): “…fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity
and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond
the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your
eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether
the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the
gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my
house, we will serve the Lord…” The Nation of Israel had fought many
battles and the Lord granted them victory and gave them The Promised
Land as their possession. They needed to Remember that it was the Lord
Who delivered them and granted them victory. As we pause to Remember
those who were killed while protecting and defending our nation against all
enemies – foreign and domestic – we need to also Remember that The Lord
is our Fortress, Strength and Shield! Try To Remember…!!