“We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance… Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.” -Major General John A. Logan.
With these words, written three years after the Civil War by the head of an organization of Union veterans, what we now call Memorial Day began. Then it was call Decoration Day and was observed on May 30, because it was felt that flowers would be in bloom all over the country and available to everyone. Before long the tradition was being observed by both North and South.
“Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.” Logan must have spent some time drafting his order; I doubt it was composed without much thought, he was too specific.
He referenced the “coming and going of reverent” visitors and mourners. He specified, that the present and coming generations should not “let neglect or the ravages of time” indicate we had forgotten the “cost of a free and undivided republic.”
Today, for some, I fear it has been forgotten. For many it is simply a cause for a long weekend, a cook out, or visiting with friends and family.
There is nothing wrong with those things, but Logan also said, “We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance…” In those days, most people never traveled over 100 miles from home. Today our society is mobile, families are scattered, our attention span is measured in minutes and interrupted by 24/7 cable news, the internet and social media.
“For those who fought for it, freedom has a taste the protected will never know,” should carry special meaning on this Memorial Day. Men and women from all of our wars and conflicts should be remembered… and honored.
Each of them decided that, “I will not stand as one ‘having no chance of being free unless made so and kept so by exertions of better men than me.’”
Before you take that first bite of hot dog or burger, before the game starts… before you forget the cost of a free and undivided republic; take a moment and salute your flag. Go out of your way to thank a veteran that did come home. Take a moment and send a prayer of thanks for those that did not.
After all Memorial Day is about them, not you.