“It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.”
“Here we highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.” Abraham Lincoln said that in honor of American soldiers who died at the hands of Confederates at Gettysburg. Such resolution is something we should renew on Memorial Day. Sacrifices impose a duty upon the recipients of those sacrifices. The living should live so as to ensure that the deaths of those who died in service to our country continue to be meaningful. We should live so as to ensure that future lives are used judiciously and, if they must be lost, that they are sold dearly.
We are reminded to honor those who died for our freedom. As President Lincoln said, “it is altogether fitting and proper that we should do so.” But, as citizens, we would be failing our dead if we don’t recognize that not all who died in service were being deployed in a cause that promoted freedom. Too often, the deaths of those who served are used cynically as a shield for policies and policymakers who are not nearly as noble as those who died in their service. And this is why, on Memorial Day, I often return to this theme — that we should honor not just those who died for our freedom, but all those who died in service to our country. This is not to disrespect our dead, but to honor them. We honor them by advocating policies and electing policy-makers that use the lives of our soldiers wisely.
Soldiers who die in battle often represent a failing on one level or another — not a failing on the part of the solider, but a failing on the part of the citizenry and the leaders we choose. We failed to avoid the conflict in the first place and there was a failure of imagination to solve the conflict in a way that did not cost the soldier his or her life.
As Isaac Asimov’s fictional Salvor Hardin said, “violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” Or, if Sun Tzu is more your style, “the supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” There are times where the value gained or preserved through war exceeds the costs of war itself. And there are times where the gain or preservation can only be accomplished with the loss of life. But, all too often the gain or preservation does not match the cost. And, all too often, the loss of life could have been eliminated or lessened through better diplomacy or better strategy.
Today is a day to remember and honor the individuals who died serving our country. Let’s do our duty as citizens by honoring them and by taking care not to fail those who currently serve and will serve in the future.
Plus 1.
Well said, Doug. I have always struggled with the support of the nation in time of war. I was raised in a traditional “peace church.” It is perhaps more accurate to describe this group of churches (Annabaptist, Quaker) as promoting peace and nonviolence than as pacifist. What I was taught ebbs and flows. I knew I was onto something after 9-11. Many Americans believed that the horror of 9-11 could only kicking hell out of someone. I thought in terms of capturing and bringing to justice the terrorsts.
In looking back at the casus belli of wars, at the root of nearly all of them is a prior, still festering, injustice. We would do much better at reducing, or perhaps one day eliminating, war, by ending injustice.
We would be best served by remembering the warning of Samuel Johnson to avoid “the insolence of wealth and the arrogance of power.” I highly doubt that our current leadership has any ability to do so. They were in fact born into it.
And well said yourself. I also remember 9/11 and the pervasive urge to kick the crap out of something. Giving into that urge was ultimately more expensive in wealth and lives than the initial attack.
With a third carrier group heading out towards North Korea our next war just might be around the corner. I am hoping that cooler heads in our military will prevail because Trump and Bannon scare the crap out of me, Bannon actually believes that we are overdue for another world war.
My hope for Memorial Day is that our world leaders will realize that if they step over the nuclear line no one wins. Yahoo keeps posting inane articles on how to survive a nuclear war. Like being a survivor would be good thing.
Surviving: Read A Canticle for Leibowitz. Decide if it is a good thing.
With no thought, let alone forethought, trump cast aside decades of working alliances with our democratic European allies, set the world on course for irreverisable climate change, and seems determined to stumble into a war on the Korean penninsula which could kill millions.
Wow, but do elections have consequences.