Are We Missing the Point of Memorial Day?

 Something Has Begun to Bother Me

Last week, I marched in the Memorial Day Parade in the community where I live in Wisconsin.  I have marched in the parade for many years, and I enjoy it. It has a small-town feel about it, and after a long winter, it is great to spend time outdoors with friends on a warm spring day. However, something about the parade has begun to bother me. I think we are missing the point of the holiday.

What is Memorial Day About?

Memorial Day is about remembering the people who gave their lives to preserve our freedom. As such, it should be a solemn holiday, and it should inspire us to think about those people and to remember the occasions when we have called on our children (most soldiers are very young) to risk their lives. Memorial Day should be a day for solemn reflection. It should not be a day for mindless, flag-waving patriotism, but that is what it has become. Participants in the parade wave flags, and high school bands play patriotic march tunes. There are floats glorifying our country, but all that feels wrong. There should be floats with the names of the local people who lost their lives in our many wars. We should recite their names.

We should also think about the wars in which they died. Were all of them really justified? Have we always been honest with our children when we sent them off to war? Have we ever asked them to risk their lives for unnecessarily? Has our freedom really always been at stake?

We Have Not Always Been Honest

As I marched in the parade, I could not help remembering the occasions in my lifetime when we dishonestly asked our children to make great sacrifices. We sent them off to fight in wars that did not really defend our freedom. Our children fought for many years in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Each of those wars was lost without diminishing our freedom here in the United States. In effect, we lied to our children and to ourselves when we asked them to show “the last full measure of devotion.” We should think about that; we should recognize our guilt; and we should resolve to do better in the future.

We Should Be Honest in the Future

On Memorial Day, we should not wave flags. We should remember the people who died, and we should accept our responsibility for their deaths. We should resolve never again to send our children to war on false pretenses. We should be honest with our children and with ourselves.