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Preparing for Memorial Day

Memorial Day – the official kickoff to the outdoor grilling season… or is it more than that?  Of course.

Men of integrity who appreciate the fine points of cooking meat over an open flame just can’t seem to forget the high price that was paid for our little piece of democracy.  That’s why we put the flag out.  That’s why we stand – hand over heart - at the opening strains of “The Star Spangled Banner.”  If you hear the national anthem this weekend, it will probably mean more.

As cool as military jet flyovers are, they are a little more poignant this year, as the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels remember their recently fallen airman, Lt. Cmdr. Kevin J. Davis.  (Officer.com explains that the practice of flyovers began in Great Britain during World War, so that the Royal Air Force could show the ground crews on the airfield below how many survivors had returned from a mission.)

With active military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, the flesh-and-blood price of freedom is before us daily.  Jesus demonstrated what he taught in John’s Gospel 15:13: “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

What do you say we promise keepers stand a little differently this Memorial Day?  Three things guys can do to make this Memorial Day significant for our families and communities:

1. Participate in the “National Moment of Remembrance” at 3:00 p.m. local time.
   
   This will likely require you to STOP EVERYTHING (volleyball, badminton, sports on TV, all sorts of casual conversation) for prayer, taps, reflection, or remembrance of a loved one.  And yes, it might quench the free-wheeling, fun-loving mood for a time, but that’s kind of the point.
   
   Read more about the “National Moment of Remembrance,” initiated under President Clinton’s pen.
   
   
2. Those veterans around you are keenly aware of the sacrifice of their fallen comrades.  Thank them for their service, and share their often unspoken grief.
   
   
3. Consider ways to support those serving in the military through a spiritual outreach, such as Campus Crusade for Christ’s outreach to the military.
   

Quotes

"Let no vandalism of avarice or 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." 

– General John Logan - May 5, 1868

“Until the world knows no aggressors, until the arms of tyranny have been laid down, until freedom has risen up in every land, we shall maintain our vigil to make sure our sons who died on foreign fields shall not have died in vain.”

– President L. B. Johnson, May 30, 1963

We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.

– Moina Michael, 1915

Related Links

• History and Information on U.S. War Memorials

• No Greater Love – Education and care for survivors of war dead and terrorism victims

• Presidential remarks on Memorial Day – Presidents Johnson, Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush

• “Taps” – History and Lyrics

• The Flag Code –  As written by The American Legion