Monday, May 26, 2008
Those who made the ultimate sacrifice ask much of us
From the RoundTable blog
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C. Warner Crumb
Crumb, of Roanoke, is a retired United Methodist minister and a former USNR Chaplain.
"Memorial Day a patriotic holiday in the United States, is a day to honor American military men and women who have given their lives for their country." (World Book definition)
But a legal holiday filled with patriotic ceremonies enhanced by soul-stirring drama, martial music and extravagant pageantry is not enough to honor our war dead.
Beneficiaries of the ultimate sacrifice of millions of men and women, America's remaining and future citizens must enliven the present, claim the future, fulfill the hopes and live out the dreams of the men and women who died too early in the morning of their lives.
For the legacy of freedom left to us, bought with the price of their own lives, a brief pause in memory won't cut it. Only a complete, irreversible commitment to intelligence and moral integrity can approach the honor of their memory.
Yet, much of what we do in the way we live is neither intelligent nor honorable, ofttimes with very little commonsense.
President Bush declares: "Everybody wants freedom." Were that true, there would be no marketing of tobacco, alcoholic beverages or drugs. Instead, merchandising of all that seeks to enslave users, beginning with young people. Fundamentally, selling and using these commodities is unintelligible, immoral and a denial of common sense.
Consider the lack of intelligence and moral integrity in the prodigal use of plastic money. The credit card industry is a shame on big business that leads to 1 million bankruptcies annually.
Far more shrewdness than intelligence has driven the marketing of tricky mortgages, capturing home buyers in a system of certain failure.
Even the way Americans eat denies intelligence and common sense, carelessly inviting obesity to be among the top killers of the land.
Only ignorance smartly pursues leisure that wears and tears mind, body and spirit while ignoring interests and activities that lead to maturity and wholesome living. View on every side the crass and stupid advertisements that drive habits that at first seem innocent enough, but cannot pass muster of wisdom or even common sense.
And for Memorial Day's political accent, consider the lethargy of America's electorate: In the recent local elections only 20 percent of citizens eligible to vote went to the polls. That would have made the late, revered Judge Jack B. Coulter very, very sad. In his time, he said. "27 percent is a disgrace."
On the national level, 79 million qualified voters did not vote. That's 19 million votes more than incumbent President Bush received.
Long years of cynicism ("That's politics. Leave it to the politicians."), have led citizens to recuse themselves from civic duties. This is immoral, a denial of intelligence, and a betrayal of our dead heroes whom we would honor.
On the other hand, intelligence and integrity in civic affairs would turn local voting booths into national shrines, where patriotic citizens never miss a roll call and never fail to pray.
So, our heroes and heroines have fallen: at Lexington and Concord, across our nation's lands, north and south, in the Alamo and the Argonne, at Normandy and Iwo Jima, in Korea and Vietnam, and now in Afghanistan and Iraq. They fell that we might stand. Their sacrifice in death demands our sacrifice in living vital, intelligent lives, to find the freedom for which they've given us chance in the disciplines, of moral integrity and faith's good will.
