Thursday, May 26, 2011

Musings on Memorial Day

So I was doing some research this week on the origins of Memorial Day using the infallible source of all knowledge, Wikipedia.  From there I gleaned two fascinating bits of knowledge that I wanted to spend a little time musing over.

1) According to my source, you are supposed to start the day by raising your flag and then lowering it to half staff as a salute to the dead.  At noon however you then raise it again as a sign that we are lifting up their memory and are rising up to not let their fight be in vain but instead are carrying it on ourselves.

2) Memorial Day was originally a day to remember those who has died in the Civil War and was later expanded to include those who had fallen in other wars.

The second point works well for me because it is easier to gloss over all the other reasons that people go to war and remember the Civil War as this "fight to set other men free."  Obviously that is a very pro-North viewpoint and simplifies the war only to an issue of freeing the slaves.  But freeing those in slavery is a cause most people can get behind, so it is a great place to start.

So if Memorial Day really is about honoring those who have died in the cause of freedom and justice for all, what does it mean for those of us doing the honoring?  How are we picking up the cause and advancing it forward?  Slavery was abolished in the United States legally years ago, but it still exists in other countries, as well as perhaps in covert ways here (and even the NFL and college football according to some).  Sex-trafficking is a prime example of this but certainly not the only one.  Where is our outrage about this?  What are we doing to shame those who engage in it, to bring them to justice, to fight to set these people free.  Are there other forms of slavery (economic, political, social) we should be fighting against?  What other threats to freedom and justice exist.  I am not advocating yet another war for our soldier to be involved in, but maybe something that each of us can work to end.

Memorial Day does not have to simply be a salute to those who died in bloody wars and by extension glorify those sorts of conflicts.  Instead it can be a lament of those who have died that others can be free, and a dedication that we will work as hard as possible to make sure that more do not have to die in this struggle.  What are we memorializing this weekend?  Is it war?  Is it freedom?  Is it a fight against evil?  I am sure our answers are all different, but I love the reminder we have in the raising of the flag.  We remember those who have gone before us and are called to make sure that in our lives we make their deaths not be in vain

1 comment:

Anna Larson said...

This was accidentally posted after your Vegas post. This is where I intended it:

Pastor Jeff,
I appreciate your acknowledgement of racism in this country. MLK's dream has gone in many ways to the wayside by the white population that never has come to acceptance of its racist history and it seems peculiarly interesting that a historical amnesia has become the way of today's institutions spawning neo-racist policies such as No Caucasian Left Behind. Color blind is code word for neo-racism. I've just completed two (ASDIC circles)anti-racism study dialog circles-one at UTS and one at Cherokee United Church in order to do anti-racism education at my internship site in St. Paul. If you are interested in this, I'll share some information with you. I plan on worshiping at Glenwood United Parish this Sunday as I am home for the week at my parents. God bless you in sharing your prophetic voice! Sincerely, Anna Larson