Memorial Day

Soldiers Lament

The darkness of his soul had come full circle.  The innocent child was dead.

The confusion of youth gave way to purpose and the young man died as he became aware, once again, of the knowledge of death and mass destruction; the ability to kill, without remorse, in order to protect a way of life.  Full circle, through a military career; full circle through comrades and family; full circle to the foot of the marble staircase he had volunteered to descend so long ago; a descent to rebirth and re-purpose, now to stand at the foot of God’s kingdom once again.

The heavy pack slid from a shoulder and hit the marble hard, laden with so much guilt and remorse; a mirror of his soul.  Kneeling on the bottom step, he placed his hands over his face and wept, unable to forgive himself much less ask forgiveness of God.  A tear fell to the cold stone exploding with slow-motion ejecta, the beginning of tears that will never cease, mirroring forgiveness that will never come, during an eternity of personal torment in a self-imposed hell.

God’s will be done; it is finished.

On Memorial Day, May 26, what will you remember to honor the day commemorating personal sacrifice in the service of others?  Memorial Day has always been meaningful to my family because we are patriots.  We have a proud military heritage, even my daughter who, though opting for a career as mother, married Marine.  For myself, as a patriot and a retired military man, I find my views of the day are changing.  I think this change is a good thing for me.  There are those that will choose to take the day off without thought for the meaning of the day, other than they don't have to work and there is a cooler of beer and a barbecue somewhere.  These would be the same people who celebrate Christmas by giving gifts without thought one for the gift of Christ.  They're thoughtless lives are required, though, to give meaning to the thoughtful lives of others.  One cannot exist without the other just as peace cannot exist without agitation, distress, and conflict.  Why is this?  Because we are human.  As humans, we found a need to define peace and, in doing so, we built upon our reality.  Built upon it, or diminished it?  I wonder.

We are what we are.  We are because of those that have gone before.  We owe our existence and our way of life to those that sacrificed everything on a field of battle.  We enjoy a tenuous peace that is ever balanced on the edge of a shaking blade.  We are always a breath away from another conflict; a breath away from protecting our freedom from another threat or protecting those that cannot protect themselves.  This is an unfortunate reality we have inevitably created for ourselves as humans, because we are humans.  It is what we do; it is what we have always done.

We are part of the "free world."  We are the Irish, the British, Australians, and Germans.  We are NATO and a myriad of other mutual defense agreements which attempt to deter aggression throughout our world.  We donate people, statesmen, politicians, philosophers, scientists, and soldiers to assist in the daunting task.   We donate money, equipment, supplies, medicine, and relief to back up our words with actions.  

We fight, and we die, all for the cause of a tenuous peace. 

We do this because we are humans dealing with the reality of other humans that rarely see eye to eye on any important issues.  We do this because history has taught us that nature requires sacrifice to ensure survival.  We do this because we have outgrown our planet and, like spoiled children, need to learn to get along with each other.  Sometimes the child needs to be slapped.  We do this to survive.  I have to believe we also do this because it is the only way God can impress upon his creation the futility of war.  If a child burns fingers on a hot stove enough, the child eventually learns not to touch it.  That, or there is something psychologically wrong with the child.  I say this to remind us that God has a way of thinning the herd by weeding out the sick, the weak, and the infirm.  Are we really too mentally crippled to understand the futility of war?

This Memorial Day I will not reflect on those that have given all for the cause of peace and freedom.  I will, instead, reflect on why we give our all.  I will pray for a continuation of tenuous peace, because you take what you can get.  I will pray that, one day, we will learn living together is much easier, gratifying, and constructive than living apart.  And, I will pray for tolerance, for only though tolerance will we ever have a chance to work on world peace.

I will pray for all of this and more, and I will remember we are human.

God be praised.