Memorial Day - 2009

Way back when I was a student at Easton High School on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, at the start of each school day, my classmates and I stood together and repeated the Lord's Prayer, then pledged allegiance to the American flag..."and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

In those days, before activist leftist judges ended school prayer and limited the flag pledge, millions of young Americans started the school day in the same way.

Think about that American flag -- 13 stripes signifying the original Atlantic seaboard colonies and 50 stars representing the present states of the Union/ The flag stands as the nation's essential patriotic symbol.

Proper Patriotism

The old saw is that "patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels," and it's true that far too many have used appeals to patriotism, (or nationalism), to cover their nefarious schemes for power.

But on this American Memorial Day we should consider that patriotism also denotes positive, supportive attitudes toward one's country. Patriotism includes pride in one's country and its achievements, in its culture and also identification with other people in the nation. Patriotism implies that the country, however defined, offers moral standards and values -- what it means to be "an American".

Patriotism also implies that some times the individual should place the interests of the nation above their personal or group interests. Indeed, in time of war, the ultimate sacrifice may extend to offering your own life in behalf of your country.

Time for Reflection

Memorial Day is a day when Americans should pause and focus on the ultimate price so many before us have paid over the centuries to win and preserve our freedom.

Each generation has taken up and continued this struggle to protect liberty. Both passed on now, my father fought in France in 1918, my older brother flew missions in a B-24 Liberator over Italy in 1944. Perhaps your family history is similar.

There was a phrase among young folks - "To die for..." that meant that some object or person is so enticing that the attractiveness suggests a feigned willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice to obtain it.

But ask yourself this, how many Americans today would be willing to die for the freedoms and liberties we supposedly enjoy -- as more than a million before us have done? Those who fought and are serving so bravely in Iraq have answered that question.

But do we still enjoy the liberties for which so many fought and died? Or have freedoms been slowly taken from us, devaluing the sacrifice of their deaths. Did they die in vain? In his eloquent Gettysburg Address, President Abraham Lincoln suggested that what we do as a people would determine the answer to that very question.

Numbers

Americans are overwhelmed by numbers; presidential preference polls, a bloated national debt, huge budget and trade deficits, highway fatalities, the number of hurricanes predicted, crime statistics. But too many people seem more concerned about the latest American Idol winner or Wall Street numbers than about the leaching way of our freedom.

The cruelest numbers of all are those that seem so senseless.

Over 4,000 American military have died in the Iraq war, as well as many thousands more Iraqis and non-military American contractors. Whatever the merits of this war, each American and Iraqi casualty, many of them very young, were unique individuals. Each with his or her own life, loves and potential that now will go unrealized. Was this really necessary?

It's worth considering in comparison that in all the wars America has fought, including our own Civil War, 1,290,200 have died. During Gen. Robert E. Lee's first Confederate invasion of the North, at Antietam in my home state of Maryland, in one day alone, Sept. 17, 1862, more than 23,000 men were killed, wounded or missing.

Freedom and Liberty

Here at the Sovereign Society, we often speak of freedom and liberty, often in terms of very real threats posed to both these precious commodities.

To observe that so many have died in the American cause over so many centuries only accentuates the meaning and importance of the cause for which they gave their "last full measure of devotion" as Lincoln said. They died before their time, with promises unrealized, and in the service of their country. Their very real sacrifice for our liberties makes it all the more important that we guard against diminution of those liberties in our own time -- whether the threat is from abroad, or from within our own government.

Each of us always needs to be prepared for that unexpected hour of death, we know not when. The call to duty and service to country remains distant and unreal for too many Americans.

Focus today on the real meaning of Memorial Day.

We should always remember, always pray, that those who paid dearly for our liberties -- making the ultimate sacrifice -- may rest in God's eternal peace; that a merciful God will indeed bless America -- and that as a nation and as a people we always will deserve that blessing.

In those days, before activist leftist judges ended school prayer and limited the flag pledge, millions of young Americans started the school day in the same way.

Think about that American flag -- 13 stripes signifying the original Atlantic seaboard colonies and 50 stars representing the present states of the Union/ The flag stands as the nation's essential patriotic symbol.

Proper Patriotism

The old saw is that "patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels," and it's true that far too many have used appeals to patriotism, (or nationalism), to cover their nefarious schemes for power.

But on this American Memorial Day we should consider that patriotism also denotes positive, supportive attitudes toward one's country. Patriotism includes pride in one's country and its achievements, in its culture and also identification with other people in the nation. Patriotism implies that the country, however defined, offers moral standards and values -- what it means to be "an American".

Patriotism also implies that some times the individual should place the interests of the nation above their personal or group interests. Indeed, in time of war, the ultimate sacrifice may extend to offering your own life in behalf of your country.

Time for Reflection

Memorial Day is a day when Americans should pause and focus on the ultimate price so many before us have paid over the centuries to win and preserve our freedom.

Each generation has taken up and continued this struggle to protect liberty. Both passed on now, my father fought in France in 1918, my older brother flew missions in a B-24 Liberator over Italy in 1944. Perhaps your family history is similar.

There was a phrase among young folks - "To die for..." that meant that some object or person is so enticing that the attractiveness suggests a feigned willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice to obtain it.

But ask yourself this, how many Americans today would be willing to die for the freedoms and liberties we supposedly enjoy -- as more than a million before us have done? Those who fought and are serving so bravely in Iraq have answered that question.

But do we still enjoy the liberties for which so many fought and died? Or have freedoms been slowly taken from us, devaluing the sacrifice of their deaths. Did they die in vain? In his eloquent Gettysburg Address, President Abraham Lincoln suggested that what we do as a people would determine the answer to that very question.

Numbers

Americans are overwhelmed by numbers; presidential preference polls, a bloated national debt, huge budget and trade deficits, highway fatalities, the number of hurricanes predicted, crime statistics. But too many people seem more concerned about the latest American Idol winner or Wall Street numbers than about the leaching way of our freedom.

The cruelest numbers of all are those that seem so senseless.

Over 4,000 American military have died in the Iraq war, as well as many thousands more Iraqis and non-military American contractors. Whatever the merits of this war, each American and Iraqi casualty, many of them very young, were unique individuals. Each with his or her own life, loves and potential that now will go unrealized. Was this really necessary?

It's worth considering in comparison that in all the wars America has fought, including our own Civil War, 1,290,200 have died. During Gen. Robert E. Lee's first Confederate invasion of the North, at Antietam in my home state of Maryland, in one day alone, Sept. 17, 1862, more than 23,000 men were killed, wounded or missing.

Freedom and Liberty

Here at the Sovereign Society, we often speak of freedom and liberty, often in terms of very real threats posed to both these precious commodities.

To observe that so many have died in the American cause over so many centuries only accentuates the meaning and importance of the cause for which they gave their "last full measure of devotion" as Lincoln said. They died before their time, with promises unrealized, and in the service of their country. Their very real sacrifice for our liberties makes it all the more important that we guard against diminution of those liberties in our own time -- whether the threat is from abroad, or from within our own government.

Each of us always needs to be prepared for that unexpected hour of death, we know not when. The call to duty and service to country remains distant and unreal for too many Americans.

Focus today on the real meaning of Memorial Day.

We should always remember, always pray, that those who paid dearly for our liberties -- making the ultimate sacrifice -- may rest in God's eternal peace; that a merciful God will indeed bless America -- and that as a nation and as a people we always will deserve that blessing.