MAYOR COMMENTS
Memorial Day is a time for remembering our veterans who have passed. Veterans who lost their lives in battle. Veterans who suffered terrible injuries – mental and physical – in war. Veterans who survived their active service but have since passed.
What all veterans have in common is (in the words of Joseph Campbell) a willingness “to give their lives to something bigger than oneself.”
That “something bigger” is our country and the freedoms we enjoy as Americans. That “something bigger” is everything that’s represented by our flag.
COVID has dampened our commemorative traditions this year.
We MISS all the kids in their baseball uniforms! And the band and the parade march. And the gathering of scores of people in the Green to remember our veterans and the sacrifices they made on our behalf.
In a “normal” time, this would be followed by all the activities that signal the traditional launch of summer: baseball; BBQ’s; swimming; holiday shopping sales; gatherings of all sorts with family and friends.
COVID has interrupted all of these activities – and more.
Who among us does not long to eat a meal in a restaurant. To get a haircut. To watch a baseball game. To go to a movie.
As we take time today to honor our veterans, I encourage all of us to reflect on the connections between the basic activities of daily living (for which we all have such a new-found appreciation) and that “cause greater than oneself” which all of our veterans served.
That cause is our country. Our history. Our way of life. Our traditions. And our founding ideals like liberty and justice and equality for all.
The famous Memorial Day poem “In Flanders Fields” reminds us that the profound sacrifice so many veterans made on our behalf is exemplified by the loss of their own ability to participate in the common activities that come with being alive.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
When we salute the flag or put our hand on our heart, and say the Pledge of Allegiance as we did at the beginning of this service, let us remember today – and ALWAYS – that the simple activities of our daily lives are perfect reflections of that “cause greater than oneself” which all of our veterans served.
As COVID restrictions are lifted, and we resume normal activities with a whole new appreciation for how much we value them, let us remember our veterans with a similar renewed reverence for the importance to all of us of their service and the sacrifices they have made on our behalf.
Let us also remember in the words of an unknown author that
“Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it. It flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it.”
May God bless our veterans, our country, and all of us.
