Memorial
Day serves as a reminder that “beneath the beauty of the lilies lies the
ugliness of war.” This James
Carroll metaphor perfectly captures the most profound meaning of war, and
of all the things lost because of it.
June 8th, 2007, was a beautiful sunny Friday
morning. Yellow ribbons and the “Red, White, and Blue” adorned buildings, tree
trunks, poles, and the hands and clothing of men, women, and children. Families
and friends, members of the U.S. Military, the Patriot Guard Riders, and politicians
lined the streets for as far as one could see waiting for the hearse carrying Matthew
Bean to his final resting place.
Matthew lost his life on May 31, 2007 as a
result of wounds suffered while serving in Iraq. On May 19, 2007, a sniper shot
him during a door-to-door search for three missing members of his unit in the
Sunni Triangle.
Matthew, a member of the 10th
Mountain Division, received the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, and an Army
Commendation Medal. Pretty ribbons and glistening medals are not satisfactory
recompense for a man’s life, for taking away a man’s future and all he could
have been. That’s what Mathew’s final homecoming and Memorial Day seems to be. Imbuing
Americans with the “pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war."
However, in the sense that Americans like
to think of Memorial Day, Mathew is the very essence of a war hero. Matthew,
and all those who lost their lives in war, gave all they had with courage,
nobility of purpose, as they understood it to be, and sacrificed their lives
for it.
It’s appropriate that a day be set aside
to honor Mathew and those who gave their lives in military service to their
country.
But, Memorial Day, originally and
appropriately named Decoration Day, was never intended to be a celebration.
Nevertheless, if families and friends take
advantage of Memorial Day to get together, enjoy a parade and each other’s
company with barbecues or other events, that’s appropriate too.
It’s all appropriate as long as we remember
why there is a Memorial Day, and acknowledge the real loss that lies under all
those graves decorated with flowers and flags. For the reality is that collectively
we are responsible for the sacrifice Mathew, and so many others, made. The
sacrifices and heartbreaks of families and children because of the loss of a
loved one, as well as those who brought the “shadows of battle back home.” But
we need to acknowledge that we too are responsible for civilians who lost their
lives, and all that implies, because of our wars. They too will have to live
with their own “shadows of battle.” And we should keep in mind the human cost
in the aftermath of our wars: land mines and other unexploded ordinances that continue
to kill and maim to this day.
We allow our government, and those who
make their living from war, to trade lives for power and profit. We allow our
tax dollars to go for research, development, maintenance of our military, and their
deployment overseas, at the expense of advancing science, education, medicine,
healthcare, and so many other needs right here at home.
As a result, we have failed at making the
United States and our world a better place to live if only we had chosen a
different way other than war.
© Copyright 2015 Horatio Green
