Memorial Day and my beloved nation is at a crossroads —between pain and hope, suffering and peace, fragility and optimism. In the “before times,” this long weekend was always a moment of transition, a milestone marking the unofficial start of summer. School would be wrapping up and barbecues, parades, and trips to the beach would be on the agenda. This is still true now, but this year, like the one before it, is nevertheless cast in a very different hue. Last year we were approaching 100,000 dead from the pandemic. Over the ensuing 12 months another nearly 500,000 have died. A half a million souls lost. A wave of sorrow to memorialize.
Thank you so much for sharing; I must remember this poem when I go to work today and see my fellow Americans enjoying the truly blessed gift of freedom. They will be in a rush to get their items paid for, making sure everyone has a drink, a snack, and maybe a t-shirt too, but ALL of this, including my freedom to work (I’m retired, but work part time) came with a cost. My family was truly blessed that my Dad (WWII), my two brothers (Vietnam), and younger brother (Peacetime) all came home physically, but I can attest to the emotional part of what they must’ve endured, did not forget and will take to their graves. I understand that it is part of the aging process to remember the “good old days”, but I have to remember, to process the ugly from the good, and to move forward because I have others younger than myself around me. America, at the heart of it, is an awesome Nation, but We The People, still have a civil and moral duty to keep the government accountable. Those Law Enforcement officers who fought, and died on January 6, 2021 are among those whose lives should be counted on Memorial Day. I still pray that hope will be found, and continued for those persons still living, for those persons in the future. I hope that the World knows, and understands that there are still many, many Americans who are still willing to pay the price against tyranny from, or on this American soil, and from abroad: not all of them wear uniforms. Thank you for essay and for listening! As my brother would say: Semper fi!
Beautifully read Dan. Love hearing your voice. On this special day I think of a dear friend from the UK who passed from the variant. David was 73. Such a wonderful vibrant, intelligent, accomplished, humorous man. Had a beautiful family with 5 little grandchildren. I think of my dear father, Flight Lieutenant David Bruce McKenzie, who was a POW in WW11. He was a gunner for the RAF, shot down in Germany, hid for days drinking his own urine. He asked a German couple who lived on a farm for help. They gave what they could but had to report him for fear of their lives. My dad was in Stalag Luft 111 for 4 years. He was part of The Great Escape, helped dig the Tom, Dick and Harry tunnels, was a cook for the men in the camp, killed one of the Gestapo's dogs to cook for the prisoner's dinner. In Canada we remember our heroes on Remembrance Day on November 11. The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. My dad passed away at the age of 47 from heart failure and degenerative back issues from the dampness in the camps leaving a 37 year old widow, a son 10 and a daughter 9. War leaves its scars for generations. We remember our loved ones with tremendous gratitude and love. Their sacrifice is far greater than we could ever know.
A young woman from our small Oregon community lies in Arlington. She was a medic. I did not know her well, but she symbolizes some of the tragedy of war. I think of Jessica and am sad for many reasons. Among them is the mistrust and division which exists in our country now. We seem to have a psychological battle going right here, right now. I am tired of seeing flags still flying and huge posters still posted for a candidate who lost, further wearied seeing some replaced by calls for him to run again in the next cycle, but mostly I am saddened because I think I will never look at those people again with the same fellowship I once did. This Memorial Day, to me, a lot more has died in America than perhaps ever before.
I also choose on this Memorial Day optimism for our national destiny. My brother served in the Vietnam war. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his service and he didn't feel that he deserved it and said he wouldn't accept it. The Army sent it to my parents. His role there was as an interpreter for the General and while he was certainly in dangerous positions, he was not in combat. He was very humble about the role he played. He recently passed away from pancreatic cancer. In the weeks before, I was fortunate to be able to enjoy lunch with him and let him know how much I admired the way he handled his disease. He was given 6 months at most. He got over 5 years which he lived fully through two surgeries and rounds of chemotherapy which he didn't let slow him down. In fact he traveled to Vietnam in his last year. I asked him how he managed to stay so positive. He said, "most people focus on what they can't do, I focus what I still can do." I often reminded myself of his words during the pandemic. I believe most who have sacrificed so much would tell us to keep fighting for what is right and good.
Today, I mourn for those who lost their lives serving this country, remembering with sadness those I knew and served with. I mourn for the country we are losing to lies, fear, hatred and apathy.
I have not your optimism Mr Rather. I wish I did.
Thank you for this thoughtful, poignant essay on such a deeply solemn day.
Very poignant poem and words from you, Mr Rather. Honoring our dead to me, means moving forward. They gave their lives so that we may have freedom. But all of our dead gave us something. Loved ones, family members, friends. Each taught us something so that we are able to move forward. I long to see our Congress do the same. Let’s put hatred down. Let’s realize we all want the same things, just have different ways to get them. Let’s discuss those differences. We are all the same. That’s the message if Memorial Day.
Dan, this is an intense look at life, and death. As an old veteran in a family of veterans---none of whom fortunately paid the ultimate price for service to our country from WWI to the present day---it is difficult for me to hold back the tears. Some of my friends---Navy, Marines---did not come home from Vietnam alive. I served during that era and am now left with only memories of those from my hometown of Fort Stockton and from duty stations in the Pacific. I honor the service to our country of all of these young Americans, and the sacrifice they made. May they all continue to rest in peace. Fair winds and following seas. You are not forgotten.
It is our time to step up and save our democracy. If not now, then when? If not us, then who? I feel an obligation to help save our democracy. Now! If our democracy is saved, then we all will be saved, including the millionaires, billionaires, including our Congresspeople. We must save all to save ourselves. All means ALL.
Sixty-two Memorial Days have passed me without the incredible sadness I feel today. I don't know if it's being on the cusp of survival mode from the pandemic, my advancing years giving me a different perspective on death, sacrifice and legacy, or some other reason I may learn in the future. What is obvious about this year's difference from those preceding is not only the pandemic, but the disgrace of political leaders putting party and personal gain ahead of the health of this democracy that our incredibly brave and mostly very young have purchased with their lives. I appreciate your optimism, Dan, but it is hard to uphold today.
My son tells stories during Memorial Day each year. Picking up remains of soldiers and placing those remains in a trash bag. The psychological drain upon the physical remembrance of this last service to fellow servicemen is difficult to comprehend. This poem will become a reading I will share each Memorial Day. God bless our military service men and women and their families.
Remember. Our charge.That, as our role in honor. Forget not neither the live given nor the end sought nor the goal that required so many to die so that we might have peace won and the honor bestowed upon us to remember each life given, always.
Thank you so much for sharing; I must remember this poem when I go to work today and see my fellow Americans enjoying the truly blessed gift of freedom. They will be in a rush to get their items paid for, making sure everyone has a drink, a snack, and maybe a t-shirt too, but ALL of this, including my freedom to work (I’m retired, but work part time) came with a cost. My family was truly blessed that my Dad (WWII), my two brothers (Vietnam), and younger brother (Peacetime) all came home physically, but I can attest to the emotional part of what they must’ve endured, did not forget and will take to their graves. I understand that it is part of the aging process to remember the “good old days”, but I have to remember, to process the ugly from the good, and to move forward because I have others younger than myself around me. America, at the heart of it, is an awesome Nation, but We The People, still have a civil and moral duty to keep the government accountable. Those Law Enforcement officers who fought, and died on January 6, 2021 are among those whose lives should be counted on Memorial Day. I still pray that hope will be found, and continued for those persons still living, for those persons in the future. I hope that the World knows, and understands that there are still many, many Americans who are still willing to pay the price against tyranny from, or on this American soil, and from abroad: not all of them wear uniforms. Thank you for essay and for listening! As my brother would say: Semper fi!
Beautifully read Dan. Love hearing your voice. On this special day I think of a dear friend from the UK who passed from the variant. David was 73. Such a wonderful vibrant, intelligent, accomplished, humorous man. Had a beautiful family with 5 little grandchildren. I think of my dear father, Flight Lieutenant David Bruce McKenzie, who was a POW in WW11. He was a gunner for the RAF, shot down in Germany, hid for days drinking his own urine. He asked a German couple who lived on a farm for help. They gave what they could but had to report him for fear of their lives. My dad was in Stalag Luft 111 for 4 years. He was part of The Great Escape, helped dig the Tom, Dick and Harry tunnels, was a cook for the men in the camp, killed one of the Gestapo's dogs to cook for the prisoner's dinner. In Canada we remember our heroes on Remembrance Day on November 11. The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. My dad passed away at the age of 47 from heart failure and degenerative back issues from the dampness in the camps leaving a 37 year old widow, a son 10 and a daughter 9. War leaves its scars for generations. We remember our loved ones with tremendous gratitude and love. Their sacrifice is far greater than we could ever know.
A young woman from our small Oregon community lies in Arlington. She was a medic. I did not know her well, but she symbolizes some of the tragedy of war. I think of Jessica and am sad for many reasons. Among them is the mistrust and division which exists in our country now. We seem to have a psychological battle going right here, right now. I am tired of seeing flags still flying and huge posters still posted for a candidate who lost, further wearied seeing some replaced by calls for him to run again in the next cycle, but mostly I am saddened because I think I will never look at those people again with the same fellowship I once did. This Memorial Day, to me, a lot more has died in America than perhaps ever before.
I also choose on this Memorial Day optimism for our national destiny. My brother served in the Vietnam war. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his service and he didn't feel that he deserved it and said he wouldn't accept it. The Army sent it to my parents. His role there was as an interpreter for the General and while he was certainly in dangerous positions, he was not in combat. He was very humble about the role he played. He recently passed away from pancreatic cancer. In the weeks before, I was fortunate to be able to enjoy lunch with him and let him know how much I admired the way he handled his disease. He was given 6 months at most. He got over 5 years which he lived fully through two surgeries and rounds of chemotherapy which he didn't let slow him down. In fact he traveled to Vietnam in his last year. I asked him how he managed to stay so positive. He said, "most people focus on what they can't do, I focus what I still can do." I often reminded myself of his words during the pandemic. I believe most who have sacrificed so much would tell us to keep fighting for what is right and good.
On consecutive days, your words have brought me to tears. Tears of sorrow, but also tears of hope. Thank you. I thought I had lost the capacity.
Your words always speak to me and this essay is particularly moving. I pray your optimism will be proven correct. Prayers for our nation.
Today, I mourn for those who lost their lives serving this country, remembering with sadness those I knew and served with. I mourn for the country we are losing to lies, fear, hatred and apathy.
I have not your optimism Mr Rather. I wish I did.
Thank you for this thoughtful, poignant essay on such a deeply solemn day.
Mr. Rather and Steady Team, thank you for your hard work.
Very poignant poem and words from you, Mr Rather. Honoring our dead to me, means moving forward. They gave their lives so that we may have freedom. But all of our dead gave us something. Loved ones, family members, friends. Each taught us something so that we are able to move forward. I long to see our Congress do the same. Let’s put hatred down. Let’s realize we all want the same things, just have different ways to get them. Let’s discuss those differences. We are all the same. That’s the message if Memorial Day.
Dan, this is an intense look at life, and death. As an old veteran in a family of veterans---none of whom fortunately paid the ultimate price for service to our country from WWI to the present day---it is difficult for me to hold back the tears. Some of my friends---Navy, Marines---did not come home from Vietnam alive. I served during that era and am now left with only memories of those from my hometown of Fort Stockton and from duty stations in the Pacific. I honor the service to our country of all of these young Americans, and the sacrifice they made. May they all continue to rest in peace. Fair winds and following seas. You are not forgotten.
It is our time to step up and save our democracy. If not now, then when? If not us, then who? I feel an obligation to help save our democracy. Now! If our democracy is saved, then we all will be saved, including the millionaires, billionaires, including our Congresspeople. We must save all to save ourselves. All means ALL.
Sixty-two Memorial Days have passed me without the incredible sadness I feel today. I don't know if it's being on the cusp of survival mode from the pandemic, my advancing years giving me a different perspective on death, sacrifice and legacy, or some other reason I may learn in the future. What is obvious about this year's difference from those preceding is not only the pandemic, but the disgrace of political leaders putting party and personal gain ahead of the health of this democracy that our incredibly brave and mostly very young have purchased with their lives. I appreciate your optimism, Dan, but it is hard to uphold today.
My son tells stories during Memorial Day each year. Picking up remains of soldiers and placing those remains in a trash bag. The psychological drain upon the physical remembrance of this last service to fellow servicemen is difficult to comprehend. This poem will become a reading I will share each Memorial Day. God bless our military service men and women and their families.
Thank you for sharing!
Well said sir
Remember. Our charge.That, as our role in honor. Forget not neither the live given nor the end sought nor the goal that required so many to die so that we might have peace won and the honor bestowed upon us to remember each life given, always.