In our home it has become a tradition to watch the National Memorial Day Concert that is broadcast by PBS every year on the Sunday evening prior to Memorial Day.
Through music, often accompanied by documentary film footage playing in the background, and through dramatic readings, performed by professional actors often on behalf of a family member or a veteran who is in the audience, viewers are drawn in and challenged to experience in as real a way as can be achieved through media the experience of veterans and their families. It is always a moving performance, and sometimes tough to watch.
It is difficult to comprehend the level of sacrifice that our fellow citizens have chosen to tolerate on our behalf while we sit in comfort in front of our large TVs. It is impossible to comprehend the horror that those who have experience combat have endured while many of us live in relatively quiet neighborhoods. To see the images and to hear the stories is to experience a swirling wind of emotions that can change direction in a moment, from sincere appreciation, to amazement, to patriotism, even to guilt.
The things that humans have done in order to defend freedom for their generation and for those to come cannot be overlooked, diminished, nor disrespected. To be American is to understand the incredible investment into protecting and preserving the things that have made this country the greatest nation in the world, the country that has been available, and able and willing to defend freedom abroad.
Much of the world owes this nation for the freedom and progress that it enjoys. We here certainly owe those who have and who are now working at home and abroad to defend this inspired form of government and the kind of life that it allows each person to live.
In America the opportunity exists for each of us to exercise our personal rights and to practice personal responsibility to make the most of what we have been given. Certainly there are obstacles. Challenges do not discriminate based on any of the standard factors, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation – none of those things. Each person has challenges because life is not without its trials even in this relatively stable and free nation.
It is imperative that we never forget the price that was paid so that we can live in relative peace and freedom today. The National Memorial Day Concert is a somber, annual reminder, but I believe we all may need to be reminded not just annually but perhaps daily.
The point was made by General Colin Powell during the concert that for the Gold Star Families every day is Memorial Day. We cannot allow anyone in a position of leadership to dishonor the memories of those who gave their lives by treating this nation and its freedom with the disdain that some openly hold and boldly share. We must choose carefully. We must be wary of people who would distort this nation’s history.
This nation has a flawed past, as nations have since the beginning of time. It is a past from which we have learned, and from which attempts have been made to right the wrongs wherever possible. It is a nation that is a work in progress, and I hope it will always be moving toward a better version of this beautiful experiment in governance. It is a nation built on principles that many believed were worth dying to defend.
We must be wise in electing and appointing people who will continue to work to defend it and to make it even better, not people who will make every effort to tear it apart.
As we were out running mundane errands earlier this week, I saw a large flag blowing in the hot afternoon breeze against a blue sky, lined by thunderheads off in the distance.
The flag caused me to think back to the concert of Memorial Day weekend. It caused me to once again wonder how people who hold such disdain for the flag, for everything it represents, and for everyone who has sacrificed and who is sacrificing to defend it – how people like that can be in positions of leadership throughout our nation.
When I look at the flag, I will always remember not only how great this nation is, but also how great the sacrifice was that protected it and protects it still today.
The Listener 