Memorial Day, 2019
Written in conjunction with guest writer LRM.
Today we commemorate the men and women of America’s Armed Forces that have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Those brave souls loved their country more than their own lives. And their love of country was not just for its many blessings. Yes, we have shining seas, majestic mountains and fertile plains, but those things are not what they died for. Nor was it for the prosperity that our country bestows upon us. Yes, we enjoy comfortable dwellings, abundant food and near miraculous health and well being, but these things, alone, are not what they died for. Nor was it for our accomplishments per se. Yes, we have gleaming cities, have traveled to the moon, and have made astonishing discoveries in science and triumphs in the arts, but these accomplishments, of and by themselves, are not what they died for. Rather, it was for something else. Something greater than all of these. It was for the PRINCIPLES on which this country was founded and by which we live. For freedom. For independence. For equal opportunity. For the rule of law. For the belief in hard work, honesty and integrity. And for our belief in God. Principles that made America great. And, of which, we ALL should be proud.
There is a disturbing trend these days to denigrate our country. Sometimes it is for the perceived imperfections of today. Often it is for sins of the past. “Social justice warriors”, it seems, can find little good to say about America, and its past leaders and heroes. As Andrew Cuomo famously remarked, “America was never that great.” And, as presidential candidate Peter Buttigieg recently stated, “America is not as great as advertised.” These people would hold our country (and it’s past heroes) to the moral standards of today, rather than what existed in the past – a comparison that’s wrongheaded and, ultimately, unfair. Mankind’s history has been one of moral as well as economic progress. Go back just 500 years, and EVERY country had slaves, NO country had welfare, and NO country strove to provide equal opportunity. But, as Reverend Martin Luther King has said, “The moral arc of the universe bends toward justice.” The best of human history represents a progression, sometimes in fits and starts, toward a morality that’s pristine and complete. Mankind builds upon its past achievements, striving to be better. And America, then as now, is a leader in this great evolution. It is something to be proud of. Something, in fact, worth dying for.
God bless our deceased veterans, our past and present service members, and God bless America.