The month of May boasts several days that touch tender memories with some perhaps best forgotten. Mother’s Day and Memorial Day are the emotional highlights for most of us. My mother died four years ago just three weeks shy of her 92nd birthday. She enjoyed good health and a strong alert mind until a brief bout with a winter pneumonia mercifully claimed her quickly. She quietly clung to old-fashioned values about family and loyalty and a sense of obligation that is unheard of today. It was not until two years after my Red Sox diehard father died that she revealed to me that she was a Yankee fan and had especially loved pinstriped catcher Thurman Munson. Apparently, it would have been heresy and a betrayal to have admitted to that while Dad was alive. It’s the little memories that become the most endearing. I am blessed to have a treasure chest full of them.
My Air Force serial number AF11383191 is nearly fifty years old but it still rolls off the lips without conscious thought or hesitation. I naively enlisted at age seventeen (needing my parents’ reluctant written) permission. I learned a lot about people, other cultures, prejudice, chain of command, need to know, Okinawa, karate, Chicoms, Chinese cities, the domino theory, actually being asked to volunteer to do intel on a place called Vietnam, the value of life, the value of self-respect, and the deepest appreciation for the abundant opportunities that we enjoy in this great country.
I also came to realize that there is no such thing as a good war, a just war, or a holy war. Violence is man’s impotence grown intolerable and crusades and jihads are the ultimate reflection of man’s ignorance and impotence.
Memorial Day is May 26th. It is the day on which we honor all those who have served their country and especially those who died in that service. Two observances bracket Memorial Day. The first is Cinco de Mayo. May 5th, 1862 is an important date in Mexican history that recognizes a heroic battle at the town of Puebla where the battle was won, in a war that was lost. The second date occurs on June 17th , 1775 the anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill near Boston, where the battle was lost in a war that was won. In each instance, poorly trained, outgunned and outmanned locals challenged the forces of two great empires. Both events are significant rallying cries that inspired their countrymen and led to independence and eventual freedom.
Today, more than 230 years later, we are still caught up in violent outbreaks all over the globe. It seems mankind has made little progress trying to eradicate its ignorance and perversely revels in its impotence (name one positive contribution that any fundamentalist Islamic country has made to the world at large). Sadly, we all keep digging the hole deeper. Hopefully, there will one day be a truly memorable Memorial Day when there will be no warfare and future generations will no longer be expected to make the ultimate sacrifice.
Slainte!