What We Owe Them

Each man's death diminishes me,

For I am involved in mankind.

Therefore, send not to know

For whom the bell tolls,

It tolls for thee.

—John Donne

This Memorial Day (2024) feels, well, different. Maybe it’s the backdrop of our political conversation; which seems to be the backdrop for a lot of things these days, or it’s the old friends remembered, or heroes, villains, or villeins and common-folk read about over many years.

Memorial Day is to remember the 1,350,000 souls, who fell in our country's wars and conflicts. It began with myriad efforts to decorate, and honor, the graves of fallen Civil War soldiers and was officially estalished as "Decoration Day" in 1868. 

Some years ago, as I read James Bradley's Flags of Our Fathers, I was stricken with the question of how many Presidents, teachers, doctors, scientists, fathers, and friends in that number never realized their futures. I haven't been able to read John Donne's words without asking that question since.

But it isn't limited to the dead. Countless more souls were injured and impaired, physically, mentally and spiritually. Most of them have joined their comrades and we honor them as well, even if we didn't fully while they lived. Those who live yet deserve more than our thanks. They deserve our care, but mostly they deserve our dedication to preserving the values, the institutions, and country they risked and gave all for.