Of Remembrance

There are many kinds of remembrance, some of which are superficial and some of which are very real. There is a kind of remembrance that confines itself to formal occasions, that is ceremoniously disposed of, and then forgotten: the kind of remembrance which is the subject of periodic lip service⎯a sort of planned and scheduled outpouring of sentiment in which fine phrases fill the air, and quickly fade and are forgotten until another special occasion calls them forth again. But there is also the constant remembrance of those for whom every hour of every day is an unforgettable memorial⎯the remembrance of them who have lost those they love. It is well that a nation pause, even were it only for a day, soberly to remember something of the cost of the free we enjoy, solemnly to remember the lives that have been sacrificed as part of the purchase price⎯and to remember what it would cost again to win back this freedom, if, for any reason whatsoever we should ever lose it. This it would be well to remember, under all circumstances, so that the price we have paid from generation to generation shall not have been paid in a lost cause. And while we are about our remembering, may we never again forget that what men have they may easily lose, unless they pay a continuing price in vigilance, self-restraint, and prayerful humility. May we remember that in the history of many nations, both anciently and within our own time, yesterday’s victory has sometimes proved to be but the prelude to tomorrow’s defeat. May we remember also that in war, even victory is costly⎯not so grimly, bitterly costly as defeat, but it is heartbreakingly costly, of which fact those who have been deprived of the association of their loved ones, need no day of special reminder. For them every day brings its own reminder. And to you for whom Memorial Day is a day of deep personal loss and of fresh sorrow: may He who gave us life give also to your troubled hearts His assurance of the reality that life is eternal, and that there is no one from whom we have parted here whom we may not know and cherish and live with yet again, in the kingdom of Him who is the father of us all.