Today is Memorial Day and we remember the sacrifice of those who in Lincoln’s words gave “the last full measure of devotion” to our nation.
Yesterday in service I referenced a memorial plaque at Broadway with the names of 22 Broadway-related men who lost their lives in WWII and the Korean War. Another plaque beside records the name of an additional Broadway member who was killed in the Vietnam War. Beneath the words of WWII and Korean memorial plaque are these words: “Lest Ye Forget”.
Memorial Day is about not forgetting. More than glib patriotic speeches and saccharine salutes, Memorial Day is our reminder of the ultimate sacrifice some on behalf of a nation dedicated to freedom and justice for all and a constitution which guarantees equality under the law for all people — from the pauper to the president. We remember today, forgetting not the soldiers, sailors, and Marines who have nor what they died for — defending the Constitution of the United States against all enemies — foreign and domestic.
At the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery Lincoln said the ground itself had already been hallowed by the blood of the fallen; it was now rather the living who must be dedicated “that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.”
It remains our duty to be so dedicated — to uphold this American experiment of democracy and all its traditions of rights and protections and the rule of law, and to keep striving to make it, in Jefferson’s words, “a more perfect union”. This is what Memorial Day is about; it’s about remembering the ultimate sacrifices of others and also dedicating ourselves to the same good and noble fight.
Lest we forget, we remember. So let us remember well and always.
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