I won’t be on line much this weekend (not that I’m here for any length of time to begin with lately). Frankly its my intent to avoid it as much as I can. I’m sure I won’t be able to resist sending some random inane update via my phone that no one will read. But here’s something that I hope you do read.
Although no sculptured marble should rise to their memory, nor engraved stone bear record of their deeds, yet will their remembrance be as lasting as the land they honored. ~Daniel Webster
Are they dead that yet speak louder than we can speak, and a more universal language? Are they dead that yet act? Are they dead that yet move upon society and inspire the people with nobler motives and more heroic patriotism? ~Henry Ward Beecher
Decoration Day is the most beautiful of our national holidays…. The grim cannon have turned into palm branches, and the shell and shrapnel into peach blossoms. ~Thomas Bailey Aldrich
I have never been able to think of the day as one of mourning; I have never quite been able to feel that half-masted flags were appropriate on Decoration Day. I have rather felt that the flag should be at the peak, because those whose dying we commemorate rejoiced in seeing it where their valor placed it. We honor them in a joyous, thankful, triumphant commemoration of what they did. ~Benjamin Harrison
These heroes are dead. They died for liberty – they died for us. They are at rest. They sleep in the land they made free, under the flag they rendered stainless, under the solemn pines, the sad hemlocks, the tearful willows, and the embracing vines. They sleep beneath the shadows of the clouds, careless alike of sunshine or of storm, each in the windowless Place of Rest. Earth may run red with other wars – they are at peace. In the midst of battle, in the roar of conflict, they found the serenity of death. I have one sentiment for soldiers living and dead: cheers for the living; tears for the dead. ~Robert G. Ingersoll
Perform, then, this one act of remembrance before this Day passes – Remember there is an army of defense and advance that never dies and never surrenders, but is increasingly recruited from the eternal sources of the American spirit and from the generations of American youth. ~W.J. Cameron
So when ya’ll pop that first beer, throw on the first burger. Before your family takes the first step out the door upon their weekend, take a moment….even if it is just a single moment to remember that the freedom you are supposed to experience this weekend was bought, paid for in full, by another’s willingness to sacrifice his and or her self for a cause bigger than all of us: that of freedom for a nation.
Tears for our fallen. Cheers for the Living. From my house to my brothers and sisters in arms and my friends across the country…
Have a happy and safe Memorial Day.
We want to see you again come Tuesday.
Wikipedia: A room is any distinguishable space within a structure. →