A Solemn and Hopeful Memorial Day To you
Take a moment
Solemn?
Yes.
This is a day of remembrance. What we now call Memorial Day began as Decoration Day in May, 1868. Maj.Gen. John A. Logan issued General Orders No. 11, which called for May 30, 1868 to be used for decorating the graves of Union dead from the Civil War.
“The 30th day of May, 1868 is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion…”
But, unofficially, May 1, 1865 may have been the first: Freed Black residents in Charleston, South Carolina held a major ceremony honoring Union dead buried at a former race course/prison camp.
After WWI, the observance broadened from Civil War dead to American military dead generally.
So, this day is a solemn remembrance of all American Military Dead.
It is difficult for anyone alive today to understand the psychological shock WWI inflicted upon the modern world.
You may recall when people handed out poppies, or representations of poppies on Memorial Day. The why of this is a brutal reminder. Poppy seeds will lie dormant in the ground for years, even decades. The ground needs to be violently overturned and exposed to sunlight for poppies to grow. The reality of the brutality of the churning of the ground by bombardment and heavy military equipment was that fields and stretches of shattered scarred ground erupted with vivid red blooms amid mud, shattered trees, crosses, corpses, shell craters and lime-whitened soil.
An image of the blood-soaked fields.
This happened May through August, coinciding with the famous poem “In Flanders Fields”, written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae upon the death of his friend, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer.
So, yes, a solemn remembrance of the cost so many have paid.
Hopeful?
Yes.
Recall again the start of this holy memorial. Decoration Day emerged out of the American Civil War which tallied up to 750,000 dead, entire towns missing a full generation of young men. Industrialized death on a scale never before seen.
Decoration Day was not simply “remember the dead”. It was, “The dead shall not be abandoned to oblivion.” Decorating graves says these people still belong to the community. They are our heritage, their sacrifice has meaning. It means that the living have an obligation, we are bound to the dead.
“To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.”
We have an inheritance and a hope: that from sacrifice comes renewal and rebirth. Like the poppies rising from the shattered earth.
This is a civilizational hope.
One more obligation for us, the living, and for those surviving.
There is a high probability that the guy on the corner with the “God Bless You” sign, or the “Hungry Need Help” sign is a veteran.
What happens if you give that guy on the corner some money?
Maybe he buys drugs. Maybe he buys a beer. Maybe he buys a Happy Meal for the toy that reminds him of better days. The one he holds in his pocket at night as he tries to sleep. Maybe it’s a scam.
Maybe it doesn’t matter.
Maybe an act of humanity, the care and concern for another, matters more than you may ever know.
Maybe the sun shines brighter on that corner.
And so again, I wish a solemn and hopeful day of Remembrance to you all.
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields, the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.