5-28-2012<\/p>\n
In the United States we have a few \u201csecular-sacred\u201d civic holidays. Memorial Day is one of them. Its origins, significance, and meaning have all become somewhat obscured and homogenized in the commercialization of all holidays into justifications for department-store and used-car sales. A sorry situation. Ask people what \u201cMemorial Day\u201d is, today, and you are more likely to hear responses about the \u201cbeginning of summer\u201d or sales or barbeques than honoring servicemen of the past.<\/p>\n
When I was a boy, many people still called it Decoration Day. Its origins after the Civil War were among Black freedmen, celebrating their liberation and the nation\u2019s fratricidal war to achieve it. Union veterans under the Grand Army of the Republic (an early American Legion of sorts) urged that it be a holiday for all veterans; in fact, for all Americans to remember war, honor peace, and commemorate fallen military personnel. People would pray, hold parades and solemn gatherings, and decorate graves. When I was a kid, moms would decorate baby carriages in red, white, and blue bunting, and join the parades. Hello, Ridgewood, Queens, New York.<\/p>\n
Before and after the Civil War, the American military protected the Republic, one of the very few responsibilities delegated to the Federal government by the Constitution. It is interesting \u2013 and, I believe, instructive \u2013 that the more that our military has been used for humanitarian work and \u201cnation-building,\u201d the less effective it has been as a fighting force. My yardstick is the traditional standard: results of wars that look like wars (e.g., Vietnam), not non-military actions like evacuations from Libya, distribution of laptops to Iraqi children, and earthquake relief all over the place.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, and as part of the same imperatives, the military has been forced to advocate for homosexuality in its ranks and, also frequently in the news, prohibit expressions of Christian faith in its ranks. Under the radar, so to speak, the humanitarian work of the American military is subversive to its basic mission, as well as to our civic culture as envisioned by the Founders.<\/p>\n
What I mean is this: there are many agencies that can, and do, minister to victims of disasters and even wars around the world. A governmental decision to use the military for such actions interferes with the Red Cross and other groups. Private charities \u2013 especially churches \u2013 exist to do Christ\u2019s work on earth. God delights in our charitable instincts and responses. We volunteer, we serve, we give, we travel, we sacrifice, to minister after natural disasters in America and across the world. We bring medicine and food; we build schools and hospitals; we even distribute laptops and dig wells.<\/p>\n
Or\u2026 the government can transform soldiers, sailors, and marines into White Wings. Noble intentions do not change the facts that the military is supposed to do military things, and private citizens are supposed to be free to do charity. Our own responses, and responsibilities, are being co-opted, and handed to people \u2013 our warriors \u2013 whose jobs they should not include.<\/p>\n
Let us remember the spiritual traditions of Decoration Day, Memorial Day: thanking God for the incredible service and noble standards of our military in America. The red in Old Glory can remind us of the sacrifices made by countless servicemen and women through the generations. They served and often died to protect their flag, their communities, and the unknown future. Even the future that perverted the template of our \u201csecular-sacred\u201d civic experiment known as the United States of America. Shed a tear for our heritage, decorate a soldier\u2019s grave, and give thanks.<\/p>\n
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A musical tribute to the service and sacrifice, and eternal security, of people who have paid with their bodies for their souls\u2019 desire. For those who are noble, and we all know some of them, let us remember them. Oftentimes it is the most modest who have the greatest stories. Seek them out this year.<\/p>\n