A Memorial Day Meditation for Peace
It was beautiful, mostly clear skies cotton clouds, 76o and no wind as I stood there flanked by a modest mix of stylishly coiffed silvered senior ladies occupying half the two dozen office chairs that were set on the street facing a portable lectern with a good mic and speaker. Other women and men mostly in their middle years and a spec of kids formed a crescent behind the chairs — all of us facing a color guard formation of American Legion and VFW vets flanking the podium, and behind them and a tree was a bagpipe player and a buddy with a drum.?
?We were gathered before the Cube, our six-story county office building whose front is guarded by a ring of black monoliths like the one at the opening of?2001: A Space Odyssey, except here there is a Stonehenge-ring of them bearing the engraved names of 1331 county residents who died while serving in every conflict since the Revolutionary War.??(There is no recognition of the Esopus and Munsee people and Dutch colonialists who died in 1659 - 1663 conflicts, but that’s a topic for another time.)
Boy scouts passed out candles. Army Sgt. Maj. Marykay Messenger, the premier vocalist for the West Point Band brings casual talk into silence as we listen to the National Anthem. An Air Force colonel from Stewart Air National Guard spoke of the unifying pride in the American Flag, during times of trial like the 9/11 terror attack on the Twin Towers in 2001 or periods great rejoicing as when the 52 hostages held by Iran for 14 months landed at Stewart International Airport in January 1981, or the “Miracle on Ice” when U.S. Olympic hockey team that defeated Russia the year before prompted chants of “USA! USA!??USA!” … and flags everywhere.
?Despite today’s currents of deep division, the colonel reminded us that we can and do experience unity of purpose, marked by the Stars and Stripes and the admiration and pride we feel for the promises and aspirations connected with that symbol.?
?Standing there felt good.
?I was one of 150 - 200 people holding candles in the silence as the sun began to set behind the Catskills. Though small in number, I’ll bet collectively we may have fired a thousand or more memories — thoughts of those we served with who didn’t make it home alive, families who sacrificed their boys, thoughts of the losses of what could have been save for people sacrificed for the larger cause and the greater good, defending the country and preserving the best of what it stands for.?
?I have heard others who served in the military reinforce what I’ll bet most GI’s will admit, and that is, at its core, “there is nothing glorious about war.” The 102-year-old Army vet who served in India during World War II, who I sat next to last year on an Honor Flight to Washington, D.C., echoed the exact words my dad, a Navy Lieutenant in the same war, uttered over a half century ago, “war is total waste.” (Check out https://hvhonorflight.com/)
?During and following the candlelight service, if I squinted, I witnessed in my imagination a movie flickering frame after frame not black and white or color, but dimly lit, monochrome olive-drab silhouettes of multiple soldiers from my unit. They didn’t get on that final jet from Bien Hoa to out-process in Oakland and later soak up the mid ‘60s counterculture.
?Ever notice at virtually every holiday parade those elderly gents in military-like khaki outfits wearing VFW and American Legion garrison caps or the others wearing baseball caps embroidered with a service branch and duty station or the name ship??
?They are the seniors who made our small, lightly attended, county event happen.?
?The ceremony will not be a blip on the scope of history. It will not even last as a dramatic memory for most attendees over the course of Memorial Day weekend.?
?But those moments together last night, quietly holding candles, does count as a meditation with a sprinkling of people shining gratitude on those who died in the service and perhaps joining in some unseen way all who have served along with their families, friends and lovers creating a meditation that projected a quiet respect not just for their service but also for peace in all of its manifestations.?
?“Peace! Peace! Peace!”
?Happy Memorial Day
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