Remembering.....

I found this today and thought it fitting for Memorial Day.

Please read and remember with respect those who died for our country.

MEMORIAL DAY

Memorial Day is not a day to be wrapped up in bunting and commemorated as if it were the Fourth of July although our national colors have had a prominent place in its observance since its origins at the close of the Civil War. The distinction has to do with what we are celebrating --not a glorious beginning but an honorable end--an end which, whether it were heroic or not, should be observed and remembered with solemnity and reverance. Memorial Day is a day we dedicate to the dead--to remember those who fell in defense of this country and the ideals which this country stands for. We may want, therefore, some drape of patriotism, some nod toward a higher motive more than mere circumstance, but not too much lest we trivilize the individual loss or somehow glorify the waste of youth and joy.
War should not be the occupation of humankind.To ensure that it is not, to ensure that it does not touch every household and every living being, some have forfeited their lives. They did not choose to die for us--no being chooses death who is sound of mind and spirit--even Jesus asked for the cup of death to be passed. Instead, they chose, or were sometimes required, to live in a manner which brought them in harm's way, and to that harm they fell.It is a paradox almost too vast for mind to comprehend.Thus, perhaps, we should leave the understanding of the sacrifice in God's hands--only He can know the full measure of what was lost and what was gained and whether the barter was fair met.
Our task is not to validate the sacrifice but to acknowledge it, to remember that it was made. We should do so, not out of guilt--what guilt should we own in surviving, in continuing as they laid down their lives to ensure. But we should do it with humility--most of us have done nothing to earn that continuing. And if any validation is necessary, it is for we the living to prove that we are worthy of the sacrifice through dedication toward the peace that was purchased by these honored dead.

BLESSINGS ON YOUR MEMORIAL DAY,

LOVE,
Julie