Memorials

Yesterday, had I been serving a church, I would have shared some words about the differences between Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Armed Services Day. I likely would have said that we who have not served in military service are called to work, with all our strength, for the eradication of war and advocate with everything in us for peace through diplomacy, reconciliation, and economic parity that erases poverty, hunger, and hope. I would have declared the only way to honor those who died in service is to strive toward ending the necessity of next year’s Memorial Day, or any other that recognizes another person’s military death, and another tomorrow and again the day after and….

I’m a dreamer of the time when people will lay down their weapons, and beat swords and guns into plows and harvesters. I believe it can happen if it were ever tried. The problem is, that it requires the rest of us to put our lives on the line, even at the cost of our lives, in non-violent efforts to diminish the power of tyranny. We have only tried to do so with bigger more destructive weapons. We’ve never tried it with lives of creative hope and love.

I am guilty of this fault. The question is always before me. How much am I willing to give of myself so no one ever dies while killing others in my place, in my name?

Memorial Day is not, for me, a day of honor. It is a day of embarrassment that I have shown no fortitude or courage to save the lives of those in the armed services by working and training as hard for peace as they trained for war. May the cries of the fallen and their loved ones forgive my (our?) apathy and hollow thanksgivings. May I memorialize their lives by living and working for peace for their descendants.