Memorial Day

My Grandfather Robinson fought in WWII. My father served in two branches of the military and served as a Med Tech in a MASH unit in the Korean Conflict. My elder brother retired from the Air Force as a career NCO. He worked with an developed radar and satellite imagery.

Luckily, none of them lost their lives in the course of their military service. Still, though, Memorial Day has special meaning in families that have been as deeply involved in the military as mine has. There are tens of thousands of families who mourn and grieve the loss of loved ones whose lives were sacrificed in the course of military service.

One of the few discussions that my father and I ever had about his military service consisted of me asking why we had American troops in Korea. This being years later, sometime in the 1970's, he explained the basics of Cold War politics, about the roles of North and South Korea, and how the United States saw South Korea as land that was worthy of protection from North Korean aggression. The sides had been drawn between Democracy and Communism, between forces of aggression and peace, between good and bad.

I understand completely the need to protect others from the aggression of some. It is a hallmark of application of the Christian faith. We are called upon to sacrifice ourselves in attempts to protect and defend the rights of those who cannot or will not protect themselves. We stand in solidarity with those who are attacked, maligned, debased, excluded and rejected. As long as this is the motivation for military action, I find it hard to argue against. Military action is less about the abuse of power and technology as it is about the protection of those who are relatively weaker and victimized.

I am currently reading an autobiographical account of a person who lived, as a Jew, through the Holocaust. The events of November, 1938 are particularly painful to read. I am certain that they are even more painful to remember. Why otherwise good people would stand and jeer as the homes of Jewish neighbors were ransacked and burned is utterly and completely beyond my ability to understand. I am proud that my country had a significant role in putting an end to the tyranny that my brothers and sisters suffered. I am sorry that it took so many lives in the process of the war that it required, however. It continues to confuse me, too, how we might so easily fall under the spell of those who claim priority of any one type, kind, type or clan over that of any other. The danger remains real and potential.

On Memorial Day, we set aside a time to remember the sacrifices that are made in order to protect our freedoms and the freedoms of those who need a protective and defending presence. It is a tragic fact of who we have been. Perhaps there may come a time when we, as a global community, grasp the idea that the costs of warfare greatly outweigh its benefits. Maybe war may cease and we may learn to live in peace.

Nevertheless, we remember those who have paid the ultimate price in protecting us and others.