Today, Monday, May 25, 2009 is Memorial Day in the United States. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, it is celebrated on the last Monday of May each year. It was started after the Civil War at the time when the north and south were reunified, originally called Reunification Day. It has become, as most holidays have, a time advertisements, sales, and television rerun marathons. There will be a few parades, graveyard visits, and speeches, as well.
Mankind, it seems, has been fighting since we learned how. We’ve yet to figure out how to resolve our differences peacefully, or to simply allow for differences. When we stand in judgment about the other, we have no time to love them. We see a constant need to answer differences and fear with violence rather than understanding and peace. There have been many who have tried to teach us:
Martin Luther King Jr.: “Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love…Our aim must never be to defeat or humiliate the white man, but to win his friendship and understanding.” — 1958
Mahatma Ghandi: What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?
Mother Teresa: I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.
Lao Tzo (Tao Te Ching):
If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.
To name a few.
So, it is my hope that today, as we remember those that have fallen in battle in the name of one cause or another, that we strive to accept each other as we are. That today, someone will learn that no type of violence brings anything that we want; violence can NEVER bring peace, and war becomes a thing of the past.
It doesn’t start with the government, it starts with the individual. It starts with me.
Peace to all no matter where you live or what you believe.
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10 Responses to “Thoughts for Memorial Day”
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Nicely said!
???
Have you studied the history of WWII? Didn’t our forces bring peace and save many lives that would have been lost had we do nothing? Should we have been more loving, accepting and understanding of the Nazis and live at peace and harmony with them as the systematically murdered Jews, Poles, Romanians, Gypsies, homosexuals and others?
Some men are so vile and dangerous that they must be stopped by force. Memorial Day is a day to honor men and women who died to make a better world for us.
@William: Thanks for chiming in. I appreciate it. Yes. I am familiar with WWII. You have a point. We must be able to defend ourselves in the event that someone would attack, or to perhaps help our allies. Why do we have allies? Because we label others as enemies?
What I propose goes even deeper. To use your example of Germany, a huge number of people already knew of the atrocities taking place under Hitler, but chose to turn a blind eye. It’s much easier to let someone else do the work through war than to stand up and say “This is not acceptable!”.
Imagine, if you will, a world where that simply couldn’t take place because of the love that we had for ourselves and each other. A man like Hitler could have never even gained a foothold thereby totally eliminating things such as world wars. No, that is not the world that we live in now, but it certainly could be and it starts, as I said, with me. Not ‘me’ personally, but with each one of us each time that we say no to act of violence.
Perhaps you misunderstood my message. Perhaps you didn’t. Perhaps you read something that wasn’t there. But to clarify, in remembering those who have fallen, appreciating their service, or contemplating over their graves, I chose to think of ways to make peace possible so that additional memorials are not needed.
I want to marvel and celebrate the differences, not seek to destroy them because I am afraid of them. I wish, on this day, that no parent had to lose a child violently to war or in the street.
Again, thanks for posting! I hope that you’ll drop by again.
@All: Normally, I would delete a comment such as that by William, not because he disagreed with me, but because he left a fake e-mail. Obviously, he wanted to just drop his opinion and leave, but, I decided to leave it.
Paul,
Thanks for you thoughtful response to my post. First the email that I left with my post was a valid one, you are welcome to mail me to verify it.
Yes, I can imagine a world where evil men are not evil, where they are stopped purely by non-violent means, and this make believe world can also have free candy and hugs for all by the same powers of imagination. But in the world we live in, our liberties are secured by armed men ready to violently handle those who breech the peace. The police and military who stand prepared to do this for us wish even more than those of us who are protected by them they they won’t have to, but thankfully they are prepared do so at a moments notice.
William
Paul,
You are a brave man to open this subject and not tout the current wisdom.
@William: If you believe that there is only one way, then there is only one way for you. Your mind, it seems, simply cannot conceive that there could be another way. A peaceful solution.
@Bob: Thanks, Bob. I find it interesting, in a disconcerting way, that when I speak of peace some seem to find it offensive, cowardly, unpalatable, impossible, unlikely, or implausible. Choose your favorite negative adjective. I don’t seek to diminish the soldier’s part in helping to sustain our freedom; I simply don’t think that we need to kill to be free. And, when peace becomes a possibility, it happens.
Bravo for opening that subject. We only too easily accept violence in our world, happy enough that it always affects others. Without nourishing that vision of a violence-free society we will never achieve it and only too willingly submit to those who use violence to increase their power.
If only it could be that easy! But human nature and human behavior is far too complex. I think so long as we have different opinions, religions, and just in general are human, there will always be someone at war somewhere. We often cannot get along in our own homes, our own neighborhoods, towns, cities, states, much less globally. We will never be able to agree on what is right and what is wrong and as long as there is some fundamental disagreement there will always come a time when one side will not budge for whatever reason, and will feel threatened and feel the need to defend itself from some real or perceived injustice or threat.
Who will dictate what is right to believe? We will never agree globally on that. It is part of our nature, sad to say. Yes, the individual can say I am not violent and will not accept violence but if confronted with the need to defend themselves or their family, they will. You know there will always be someone challenging our safety and will will have to defend it.
@Laurie: I would agree, in part, but I don’t think that it is necessary to have a homogeneous belief system. It’s okay for each to believe his or own thing about life. The problem lies in someone thinking that someone else is wrong and feel that they ‘must’ change that other person’s thinking or way of life. That’s where the conflicts arise.