InSpiritry

 ”Regard your soldiers as your children…

look on them as your own beloved sons

and they will follow you even unto death.” 

                        Sun Tzu

Today is Memorial Day. The day for aging WWII and Vietnam vets to polish their medals, memorialize sargeants, call old friends. A day for men and women who fought in Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan to remember their comarades, rub their regrets, wear their honor. Today, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers of amazing young adults lost in battle will dust off portraits of their special heroes, then tell their stories hoping they will never be forgotten. And on military bases around the world, soldiers will enjoy a good meal, shoulder chuck one another in pride, reread love letters, talk to family by phone or online.

The rest of us will mark the day too. With American flags proudly displayed on our porch posts, many of us will enjoy a day off from work. We will gather on back patios with our neighbors for barbeque, burgers and beer, as patriotic music plays on the stereo. Others will attend memorial services or military programs. Some will do their part to boost the economy by shopping Memorial Day sales. In homes and hospitals, parents will remind their children of grandfathers and uncles and cousins who did their part for America. Proud to be Americans, we will wear honor like patriotic shirts.

But as we sip lemonade and listen to brass bands or complain that we didn’t get the day off, most of us will not do enough to celebrate this day. Consumed by our own lives, we will not talk of battlefields or burned out buildings. We will not imagine the blasts of IEDs or hand grenades. We will not call the family of a fallen soldier. We will not ask ourselves how we would live with an amputation or explosive rage or nightmares that do not end. We will not picture orphaned children or child soldiers. We will not count the cost of political mistakes or weigh the burden of priorities set in boardrooms. We will not debate the price of democracy or the complicated question of doing what is right. We will not sing, He’s got the whole world in His hands.

This Memorial Day, celebrate our hard-fought freedom, but also give war your attention. Open your heart to remember the heroic fallen. Regard our soldiers as sons (& daughters); consider what we ask of them every day. Be brave enough to question your own fears. Admit the sacrifices your family has not made. See enemies as members of a tragic family, not villains bent on your destruction. Ask questions. Listen for answers. Cry a few tears about war in memoriam, so that we might find another way to make a better world. Then say a prayer for peace!

When We See Others As Our Own Sons and War as the Worst Answer, We Can Be a Blessing!

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 25th, 2009 at 8:05 am and is filed under World, Community, America, Greater Good Thinking, Compassion, War, Anne McCrady, Peacework, Politics of Possibility, Greater Good, InSpiritry, Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.