Remember. . .

On this Memorial Day weekend, two scenes are etched into my memory.  At my father-in-law's funeral a single row of war veterans, the same vintage as Al, made their long way down the aisle before the funeral began and solemnly saluted their fallen comrade.  At the cemetery they took turns firing the rifles whose sound shattered the silence.  And they stood in rapt attention as the flag was folded and on one knee presented to my mother-in-law in recognition of Al's service to his country and from a grateful nation.  Little did I know that the whole thing would be repeated seven hundred miles away when my own father died.  Honor guards, soldiers folding a flag, and a bended kneed holding forth that folded flag in honor, thanks, appreciation, and gratitude from a grateful nation -- this time for my own father.  They are two poignant moments of very emotional times.  But this is not about emotion.

We spend too much time talking about and paying attention to feelings.  We are more consumed with how we feel than just about anything else.  Those soldiers who served without hesitation, who paid the cost with haunting memories, the loss of friends and family, chronic wounds and loss of limb, and especially those who died on hills, in fox holes, in the air, one the sea, so far from home. . . they deserve more from us than good feelings and even gratitude.  If their serve and their sacrifice means anything to us, then it calls us as a nation to stop the foolish feeding frenzy of presumed slight, to demand an end to the crazed reaction to injustice that loots, steals, and destroys, to refuse the senseless litany of rights demanded by those unwilling to pay even the smallest cost of liberty, and to challenge the selfish slavery of the moment by remembering those whose support of freedom was paid in blood, sweat, pain, and death.

Our political conversation is dominated by questions of what the candidates will do for me.  Our terrible treatment of those who would be candidates almost guarantees that the best people will not seek to run. Our fear of the future betrays the America that led countless soldiers to defend freedom on every field in unpopular conflicts amid the worst possible conditions.  Our nation is only as strong as those who will hear and heed the call to service -- formally in the armed forces or informally as responsible citizens.  Our punishment will be to get the kind of society we fought to prevent -- unless we are willing to work together as hard as those who are working to tear down and destroy the fragile liberty but one generation away from surrender to those who refuse to follow where our ancestors walked.

Just a few thoughts on Memorial Day as I remember two of the greatest generation and pray that they and their like are not the last. . .