During my formative years growing up in Pembroke, I was imbued with a culture of nationalism, patriotism and militarism. My enculturation taught me that I should support “my country right or wrong,” an enculturation where patriotism meant blind devotion to the United States of America, and I was instilled with the notion that “If we didn’t have a military we would not have a country!” It was a culture of unquestionable Christian devotion, and an unquestionable devotion to the “Red, White, and Blue.” It was a time when every young man was expected to serve in the armed forces of the United States of America either by enlistment or draft. It was a time when every school day began with a prayer and a pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. It was a time when I thought that my government would never be deceitful and that to be a politician was an honorable profession.
In those days, every Memorial Day was a major celebration. There was a parade to every cemetery in town, rain or shine, where the flag was placed at every gravesite of those who served our country in war, and where at every cemetery taps was played. It was a day of war legends, myths, and stories/anecdotes, and of war hero idolatry.
Memorial Day is a day that we honor our war heroes. It is a day of honoring those who gave all they had to give; but it is also more so a day when we glorify war, and when we celebrate our nationalism, patriotism and militarism via exploitation of our heroes.
Memorial Day, Monday, May 26, 2008 was a gorgeous sunny day. It was a day mirroring the day, almost a year ago, when Matthew Bean was interred. On May 19, 2007 Matty gave all he had to give to Iraq during a door-to-door search for three captured U.S. soldiers in the Sunni Triangle region of Iraq.
Matty is a true hero because his performance fits the very essence of the word hero. Matthew Bean gave all he had with courage, nobility of purpose as he understood it to be, and sacrificed his life for it.
Matthew as well as many other men and women also have given all they had, as well.
We should not forget on this Memorial Day that many others gave not their lives but they did give all of their futures. Men and women disfigured/disabled mentally/physically for the rest of their lives.
I am no longer that naïve child who grew up in Pembroke. When I was a child, I spoke, thought, and understood as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things. I have put away the childishness, the uncritical thinking of “my country right or wrong,” blind devotion to the United States of America, and I have completely rejected the notion “If we didn’t have a military we would not have a country!” Life has taught me that to be a politician is not always an honorable calling.
Let’s not let the politicians and the Trumans, Kennedys, Bushes, Cheneys, or Wolfowitzes of our country hoodwink Americans, and particularly young people like Matthew, into thinking that a Korea, Vietnam, or Iraq serves some nobility of purpose, as I did when I was a child, ever again.
Just look at the picture of Matthew Bean, because for most of us that picture is all we have, and tell me with all honesty: is Iraq worth the life of this young man? Do not just look at this man as the object value of a handsome young man who so happened to have lost his life, after all lives are lost in war, without profoundly understanding what his family and we have lost in our community and country as a result of his death. Think of the lost contribution that Matthew could have made to make this a better country. Whatever the outcome in Iraq it will not make us a better country. It is not what has been; but what could have been if only America had chosen a different course of action. Matthew’s grave is a metaphorical marker for what could have been as well as what could be; that is the reality of Memorial Day.
