Memorial Day is upon us! Yet I have read in several national publications such headlines as, “AMERICANS HAVE NO IDEA WHAT MEMORIAL DAY IS” or in another well-known blog, “As Memorial Day Observations Decline In Popularity, Powerful Lessons Remain.”
What had been a solemn day of remembrance of those who gave their all in our nation’s wars as members of our military, those who paid the ultimate price to guarantee the freedom and liberty we enjoy in the United States today–unlike almost all the rest of the world–has sadly instead become a day as the headlines at CNBC advise, “How to land the best shopping deals this Memorial Day weekend.”
Sad but not surprising when you teach young Americans, especially young immigrants, who are woefully ignorant of even the basic premises of our country’s laws and principles, less and less about the founding and history of our country–including the fact we had to fight to gain what we have, and fight some more to keep it. Also, not surprising when school curriculums have nearly eliminated “Civics” classes substituting instead such ill begotten classes on the negative aspects of our history.
Aided and abetted by liberals run amuck such as circuit court judges–graduates of such bastions of far left ideology as Berkley, et al–and such misplaced and misbehaving groups as “Black Lives Matter,” or the new liberal hoax–dangerous, but a hoax– “Resist,” or perhaps even more sinister in nature, “Media Matters.”
So, I am battling the liberals back. I have written a poem on the meaning of Memorial Day as a reminder of what the price of our freedom has been for more than two hundred years.
Memorial Day Celebrations, 2017, at Cemeteries Across the Land
A million American flags, and more, will be unfurled,
And invited dignitaries will righteously attest,
In our many scattered consecrated parks
Where our true American heroes rest.
Some will issue a lofty proclamation
To confirm our most robust determination,
And voice why this day is deemed solemn,
Why we today remember our many, many fallen.
When their spirited dialogs fade,
The forlorn bugles sound,
As the eerie strain of Taps
Echoes o’er those hallowed grounds.
All across our indebted nation, wherever stone statues stand,
From Arlington National, in all directions-proudly, American flags, way upon way.
Will we then take one moment to stroll these sacred lands,
Noting names etched in granite whose uncommon valor won the day.
Will we express our gratitude to those who gave their all,
Honoring their selflessness while fulfilling duty’s call,
And pay full measure to their sacrifice so gallant, so brave,
As we silently nod our head towards each and every grave?
When the sun is setting, and we all are roving home,
Will we pause with pride and honor, and marvel at that we have seen?
And promise to ourselves, and those who silently repose,
To return more often conferring on all who rest there our utmost esteem?