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.
Hearing your voice deepens the meaning of this sad marker of loss, remembers those we personally and collectively mourn, and suggests some measure of hope by which we persevere. Thank you for your voice.
What a heart rendering and soul touching article this was. It would serve as a good testament to be read to and by our government who should be the ones exercising the sentiment you so beautifully presented.
Dan, Though I made a mental note of this edition’s arrival in my inbox, I waited until today to read it. I am so grateful I did. Reading your well thought out, deliberate words while listening to your eloquent voice is just what I needed today. Thank you for making the connection between soldiers and front line workers. It needed to be said, and I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear it. -LA
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.
Thank you for reading this!!! It is so special to listen to you!! You wrote and read a beautiful essay for this very special Memorial Day. Thank you, Dan.
Thank you, Sir. I will use the poem that I often tend to forget. So many people do not understand that Memorial Day is for those who did not survive wartime. And, I agree, the pandemic has been wartime with our many frontline workers as heroes. So many of them did not make it through the battlefield. Let us remember all of our wartime heroes.
It doesn't look like as many folks read or commented on this very moving piece from you Dan. I am thinking they are away from their phones and computers enjoying the holiday and family. I know I am reading this late in the day today so perhaps they will catch you tomorrow.
I bring this up because? Because what you have said here has deeply touched me and I want you to know you have not waisted breath or time reminding us all about the decades of Hero's we have lost and most recently the Hero's of our health care systems that are gone.
I have been blessed in that during this horrid Pandemic I have not lost a loved one or a practitioner. Two in my family came down with it, but they were young and healthy and overcame it after several disabling weeks. This was such a frightening time for me, it was my daughter and her husband, and as I prayed nightly I wondered what would become of their two children if they didn't make it.
OK, I will be honest with you. After so many months of death in the news and sorrow in recounted stories I read in the New York Times I almost didn't read your column today. I didn't want to read about any more longing for the lost. I just wanted to feel the joy of hugging my children and grandchildren again after so long.
But I am glad I did listen and read with you today. Because you have reminded me that I can't, in good conscious, turn away from any of the Hero's you spoke of here. All of them are gone so that I could have something. So that I could have the Freedoms I enjoy, and the family that I was able to hold so tightly today.
Thank you so much for your work here with Steady. Thank you for being a Hero we didn't loose.
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.
All of those who died in the WWII gave their lives to rid the world of fascism. We need to remember their sacrifices are a gift to all succeeding generations of a free world.
We now have a large percentage of citizens who honestly believe that our last election was compromised by fraud and that it was stolen from its rightful winner by that fraud. They lay the blame for this at the feet of a non-existent group they call “antifa,” a contraction of “anti-fascist.”
We all need to become anti-fascist to preserve our democracy. We need to counter the falsehoods that the election was stolen. The events of January 6 were nothing short of a violent attempt to overthrow our democracy by people who honestly believe they were going to save our democracy, not end it. We need to continue to confront The Big Lie. We need to restore belief in the truth and dismiss the so-called “fake news.”
We owe it to those who made the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf to ensure that their collective gift to us is remembered and revered on this Memorial Day.
To all of you I say keep the faith, keep working to preserve our noble experiment, and though you tire of so repetitively doing the same job at it, now is not the time o walk away.
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.
Are there any newer podcast episodes since this one in May, 2021? Thank you!
Hearing your voice deepens the meaning of this sad marker of loss, remembers those we personally and collectively mourn, and suggests some measure of hope by which we persevere. Thank you for your voice.
What a heart rendering and soul touching article this was. It would serve as a good testament to be read to and by our government who should be the ones exercising the sentiment you so beautifully presented.
Dan, Though I made a mental note of this edition’s arrival in my inbox, I waited until today to read it. I am so grateful I did. Reading your well thought out, deliberate words while listening to your eloquent voice is just what I needed today. Thank you for making the connection between soldiers and front line workers. It needed to be said, and I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear it. -LA
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.
I don't remember ,I have ever read a beautiful essay as this one,The poem at the end touches your heart and soul.I read it again and again.
Thank you for reading this!!! It is so special to listen to you!! You wrote and read a beautiful essay for this very special Memorial Day. Thank you, Dan.
Thank you for your thoughts and for the poem.
Thank you, Sir. I will use the poem that I often tend to forget. So many people do not understand that Memorial Day is for those who did not survive wartime. And, I agree, the pandemic has been wartime with our many frontline workers as heroes. So many of them did not make it through the battlefield. Let us remember all of our wartime heroes.
It doesn't look like as many folks read or commented on this very moving piece from you Dan. I am thinking they are away from their phones and computers enjoying the holiday and family. I know I am reading this late in the day today so perhaps they will catch you tomorrow.
I bring this up because? Because what you have said here has deeply touched me and I want you to know you have not waisted breath or time reminding us all about the decades of Hero's we have lost and most recently the Hero's of our health care systems that are gone.
I have been blessed in that during this horrid Pandemic I have not lost a loved one or a practitioner. Two in my family came down with it, but they were young and healthy and overcame it after several disabling weeks. This was such a frightening time for me, it was my daughter and her husband, and as I prayed nightly I wondered what would become of their two children if they didn't make it.
OK, I will be honest with you. After so many months of death in the news and sorrow in recounted stories I read in the New York Times I almost didn't read your column today. I didn't want to read about any more longing for the lost. I just wanted to feel the joy of hugging my children and grandchildren again after so long.
But I am glad I did listen and read with you today. Because you have reminded me that I can't, in good conscious, turn away from any of the Hero's you spoke of here. All of them are gone so that I could have something. So that I could have the Freedoms I enjoy, and the family that I was able to hold so tightly today.
Thank you so much for your work here with Steady. Thank you for being a Hero we didn't loose.
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.
Thank you for writing and then reading your prose. Doubly powerful and impactful.
All of those who died in the WWII gave their lives to rid the world of fascism. We need to remember their sacrifices are a gift to all succeeding generations of a free world.
We now have a large percentage of citizens who honestly believe that our last election was compromised by fraud and that it was stolen from its rightful winner by that fraud. They lay the blame for this at the feet of a non-existent group they call “antifa,” a contraction of “anti-fascist.”
We all need to become anti-fascist to preserve our democracy. We need to counter the falsehoods that the election was stolen. The events of January 6 were nothing short of a violent attempt to overthrow our democracy by people who honestly believe they were going to save our democracy, not end it. We need to continue to confront The Big Lie. We need to restore belief in the truth and dismiss the so-called “fake news.”
We owe it to those who made the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf to ensure that their collective gift to us is remembered and revered on this Memorial Day.
To all of you I say keep the faith, keep working to preserve our noble experiment, and though you tire of so repetitively doing the same job at it, now is not the time o walk away.
Lovely and moving. Thank you.
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 ! Your voice of calm inspired me to have a deeper appreciation of Memorial Days.