A
New Way
The
Memorial Sunday
John
The Civil War ended in 1865. But
it wasn't until 1997 that the last shot of that war was fired. In
1997, two young boys were playing around with their Christmas present, a metal
detector, when they unearthed a strange old object. The
boys didn't know what it was and, thankfully, spoke with their uncle.
He called the police, who recognized the object as an ancient ammunition
shell. They exploded it in the boys’ yard, creating a crater that measured
four feet long and five feet wide. “In
a way,” said the uncle, “it's the last shot fired in the Civil War, so we're
glad they blew it up in our yard. The
Civil War lived on last night."
It’s startling to think that a weapon
could still be destructive so long after its construction.
Yet that seems to be the nature of war: its effects linger on in the
lives of a people and a nation for many generations. Just
ask the children of
And so we come to another Memorial Day, a
day to remember those who gave “the last full measure of devotion,” as
Abraham Lincoln said at
When the
Civil War started in 1861, John Thompson of
But the tragedy did not end there. Records
indicate that his mother, stunned and sickened by her son's death, became
gravely ill and never completely recovered. From
the autumn of 1862 to the autumn of 1863, her health declined steadily until she
died in November, leaving daughter Elizabeth, age 8, an orphan. Today
we know that Private Thompson is buried in the
And now we have the latest phenomenon of
war: we are getting better at
saving lives, but sending home many more wounded and maimed and traumatized
young people who have a lifetime of hardship ahead of them.
We, who have been asked to sacrifice so little for this current war, must
not allow their sacrifices to be forgotten, or their challenges for medical care
and rehabilitation to be ignored. These
brave men and women deserve better than that.
War, of course, produces countless stories
of sacrifice and heroism, of otherwise ordinary people doing extraordinary
things. But every soldier has a
story to tell, feelings of fright, resolve, and impending loss.
And loneliness; a deep and aching loneliness for those they have left at
home.
Some of those we remember may not have had a clear sense of calling, nor high ideals. They were in faraway places where they did not wish to be, fighting a war that they did not completely understand. At this point, it makes no difference whether or not they understood. Those whom we remember this day all paid the supreme price. It is now remaining to us, the living, to do the things that make for peace, to commit ourselves to the ways of life for all God’s children that their deaths may not have been in vain.
This is a time not only to remember but also to reflect. If we allow our national holiday to pass by tomorrow without taking at least some time to think about how to stop the spread of the virus of violence that infects our world, then we have made Memorial Day into just another opportunity to get some shopping done, or to have a barbeque in the back yard.
We do our honored dead a
tremendous service by resolving to prevent any more lives from being
taken so young, as well as thinking about how we might just take action against
conflicts, even when our efforts may seem hopeless.
I read a story about a young man who was intent on enlisting in the army.
This was several years ago when the war in
When I read that story, I began to think of
all the families who are suffering this pain right now.
I don’t know how they bear it. It
must be awful to lose a loved one in war. For
those that have love ones serving in the armed forces today, I am sure they
worry every day. Will their loved
ones ever make it home?
I was born in 1967, during the Vietnam War
and also at the end of the “Summer of Love.”
These two themes seem so juxtaposed, which represented those times well.
As I got older, I remember my parents playing their old albums.
One song about the war haunted me then.
And it still does today. As a
husband, a father, and someone who is old enough now to understand the cost of
war, and knowing the
I ask that on this day, we pray for all
those who are mourning the loss of loved ones who were killed in war.
I ask that we pray for Christ’s peace to reign on Earth and to learn to
live as one, truly loving one another.
This song is from a group called Gary
Puckett and the Union Gap and it is called “Home.”
And
every night they lie awake
And dream of mama's chocolate cake
And wonder if they'll be a tomorrow
And will they ever see their home and their family
Or will they ever be back home.
And boys who never learned to pray
Look to the heavens everyday
And stumble through a simple little prayer
And ask the Lord above
To send them home to the ones they love
Oh God, I hope they make it home.
And every day some young man dies
And in the night some young girl cries
He'll never hear his baby's laughter
He'll never ever see his home and his family
Or what he's done for you and me
But I guess he's on his way back home.
On this day, let us remember.
We do not want to lose any more precious souls to war. Let
us work to find a
* ECH