It is a startling figure. More than 2 million soldiers, sailors, Marines and Air Force and Coast Guard personnel have died during wars fought by this nation. The number includes deaths from the Revolutionary War to the ongoing war on terror.
These men and women died in the cause of peace, freedom and brotherhood and in service to the United States of America.
On May 26, the nation will pause to acknowledge the sacrifices of these military personnel through the observance of Memorial Day. This day of remembrance is appropriate for the nation’s honored dead, those who gave the supreme sacrifice for the benefit of others.
The day of remembrance is also appropriate for us the living. We need to learn from the very act of memorializing these veterans.
Memorial Day bears witness to what these heroes of the nation did.
Though dying in many different ways and across more than two centuries, each one committed self to a cause larger than individual personhood.
For that commitment, each paid the ultimate price. Memorial Day bears witness to commitment, to courage, to duty, to love of country and to love of others, which each expressed.
Memorial Day also reminds us of the past. It is a day when the nation as a whole and the citizens individually look back to bygone days. With clarity of time, one recognizes the good and the bad of a former era.
From the good, one learns what to carry forward. From the bad, one learns what to leave behind. Unless one learns from the past, one is bound to repeat its mistakes.
Looking back can also inspire confidence for the future. The backward look shows the seemingly insurmountable problems of yesterday. Yet, by the grace of God, this nation survived.
Today ominous challenges loom over the way ahead. Some doubt the ability to endure.
Because our forefathers overcame the challenges of their day, we believe the future is bright, only awaiting those who will give themselves in commitment to today’s daunting tasks just as those memorialized did in their day.
Memorial Day celebrates others. The observance is all about others. It is not about us. The day lifts up their commitment, their work, their accomplishments, their sacrifices.
We, the living, are the beneficiaries of what they did. We are in their debt, and this national day of remembrance helps us express our gratitude as a nation and as individuals.
The national holiday also stimulates one’s own service in behalf of others. It is practically impossible to participate in Memorial Day observances without being sensitized to the need for today’s citizens to serve one another.
It is equally impossible for the rituals of the day not to call out to the depths of one’s soul about giving oneself to peace, freedom, brotherhood and service to the nation.
Memorial Day services can be somber, but they never leave one in despair. To despair is to be without hope, and those remembered on this day gave their lives that hope might live in the world today and forever.
There was another who died in battle, and He, too, died that hope might live in the hearts of humankind. He died for all the 3.4 million souls who gave their lives in service to this nation, as well as those from every tribe and nation of the world.
He was killed by His enemies, yet His enemies did not take His life. This One said, "No man takes my life but I give it … ."
He told friends He could call reinforcements to save Him from death but the battle could not be won that way. In an irony that still puzzles observers, He had to lose His life that others might find life.
Jesus gave Himself a ransom for many. He met the final enemy and defeated it. Even though Jesus died, He won the battle. Death could not hold Him, and God raised Him from the dead.
What God did for Jesus, God promised to do for all who "believe on the name of the only begotten Son of God." That is the real hope of the world.
For Jesus, the battle is over. The war against sin and death is complete. Jesus won. Satan lost. Only the declaration of final victory waits, and when the bugle blows that final victory song, there really will be peace and freedom and brotherhood forever and forever and forever.
Until that time, we give honor to those who have helped provide these qualities for life in the United States and ultimate honor to Jesus Christ who offers them to all humanity.
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