Memorial Day weekend has arrived. There are planned events and observances scheduled throughout the country, including here in the Golden Triangle. For most citizens, however, the long holiday weekend will be an opportunity to relax, enjoy gatherings with family and/or friends and have some fun.
There is nothing inherently wrong with those activities, of course. The sacrifices of generations of American soldiers has enabled us to enjoy the freedoms and benefits we continue to enjoy today. We can honor those sacrifices if, in the course of our diversions, we pause to remember the men and women who, as Lincoln noted, “gave their last full measure of devotion” to sustaining our way of life over the broad sweep of American history.
The U.S. Military History Institute calculates that more than 1.3 million Americans have died in wars, conflicts and military interventions since 1775. It is a staggering number — were it averaged over our 240-year history, the deaths would average roughly 5,400 per year. Yet even that figure does not express the full magnitude of sacrifices. It does not account for the numberless scores of those whose lives were so tragically altered — the widows, the father-less children, the heart-broken parents.
As a nation, our efforts to honor these staggering sacrifices have been observed for 150 years now.
While there have been several cities that have claimed to have been the birthplace of Memorial Day, including Columbus — where the women of the city decorated the graves of both U.S. and Confederate soldiers buried in Friendship Cemetery in April of 1865 — all Americans have a responsibility to honor those who fought and died to preserve the rights and privileges we might be inclined to take for granted.
Memorial Day reminds us that all of us are obligated to honor those great sacrifices of our fallen soldiers. While few of us are called to the defense of our country and fewer still are required to lay down our lives in that cause, we all have a role to play.
Our greatest tribute, then, is to conduct ourselves in a way that brings honor to those fallen by accepting our own roles. When we exercise our right to vote, when we pay our taxes, when we stand up for the rights of others, when we are generous, kind and honest, we honor those who fell in defense of those best traits of our American character.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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