It is Memorial Day as I write which means by the time you read this, you have already enjoyed your Monday holiday.
Maybe I should have thought ahead, but I didn’t, and this message is burning on my brain…so bear with me.
I was out and about on Friday running errands and bemoaning the heat.
Since the holiday weekend began on Friday, most of my favorite satellite radio talk show hosts were replaying archives. Such shows are always teased as “The Best of the Best,” but I have never liked reruns.
It was just not the same.
It is a sad thing to admit, but I had heard them all before. If there is a 12 step program for news addicts, I probably need to join.
All in the spirit of Memorial Day, I searched my Pandora for something patriotic.
I found several stations, and confess that I began to sing loudly to nobody, of course, within the safety of rolled up windows and air conditioning set on maximum! I had never realized until then how all those wonderful songs—God Bless America, The Star-Spangled Banner, America, America The Beautiful, The Medley of the Armed Forces— stir my heart and also take me back to Lockard Elementary School in the late 1950s and 1960s.
A part of the curriculum in those days was Public School Music.
In our early school years, we marched in a single line from our homerooms to our weekly hour of singing, square dancing and playing musical instruments under the diligent instruction of Mrs. Freddie Green and then Miss Grace Young.
Our classroom teachers, who taught a full day of every subject and also had lunchroom and playground duty, must have praised God for that blessed hour of peace each week!
I am not sure whether Mrs. Freddie’s or Miss Young’s “how to” manual dictated that they teach us those patriotic songs or whether they were just teaching us to love the things they loved.
Either way, I believe they instilled a bit of good citizenship and love for country in all of our little grammar school hearts.
Those songs reinforced the facts in our American History textbooks, and we gained a fuller reverence for what made America so special.
Those familiar words and tunes took root and became meaningful. Nobody had to teach me to feel goose bumps when the orchestra’s crescendo and crashing cymbals bring us to that last phrase in the National Anthem, “O, say does that star spangled banner yet wave o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?” It never gets old for me.
Maybe it is because of the bitter division in our country at the moment that I am thinking deeply today of our fallen heroes.
Forty million men and women have served in the military since America’s founding. One million have given their lives in service and sacrifice.
Vice President Pence delivered a heartfelt keynote address at a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery this morning. He told very personal stories of men who had lost their lives in different wars, and he read from letters they had written from the battlefield to their mothers and their wives.
Three men from three different generations from different parts of the country all expressed a shared belief that American ideals were worth fighting for.
It was very moving.
How did we get from that sentiment to the sentiment of those in powerful places now who boldly declare that America was never that great?
My guess is those people never had teachers like my teachers.
A few years ago, my husband Charles and I spent a series of Friday nights (our pizza and movie night) watching Band of Brothers, the true story of Easy Company of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne division and their mission in WWII Europe.
The word, “discomfort” does not begin to describe the conditions in which they lived for years as they gave all for the cause of freedom and a way of life that had been their legacy and continues to be our grace-filled inheritance.
If you have yet to see it, find it very soon.
The fact that the movie/documentary includes interviews from actual veterans depicted in the movie makes this a moving and authentic account. Bring your Kleenex.
I love my country and still believe that the principles upon which it was founded are noble, good, and true.
That does not mean that human authority has always performed in a manner that represents such virtues. But the failures of flawed humans do not mean that the virtues are not still noble, good, and true. I will never stop praying for revival in our land.
Psalm 145:4 says, “One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts.” That statement rings true for us just as it did for the nation of Israel in 1000 BC. Those words, “God shed His grace on thee” definitely apply to this nation.
To keep our values strong, we share our stories with our children who share their stories with their children.
As culture and trends come and go, respect for what is noble, good and true can remain strong. But the responsibility rests with us, the older generation.
Vice President (Mike) Pence said it beautifully today.
“This is the day that makes possible all the other days we celebrate. Their duty was to serve. Our duty is to remember.”
Long live Memorial Day and God bless America.
