Paying Respect
I credit Dennis Prager (see title link) with increasing my awareness of the importance of public ritual as a means of providing meaning and purpose to our collective lives. Usually Memorial Day has meant a three day weekend and no more. This year I was resolved to have a “meaningful” Memorial Day honoring those who have sacrificed themselves for our country in battle. I thought I would share some of my thoughts on the weekend…
First, Friday night I assembled a group of friends to watch Saving Private Ryan in this special theatre setting that was available to us. I provided a brief history of Memorial Day and some facts and background on D-Day before the movie. Saving Private Ryan is a truly great film (the best “war” film ever made in my mind) and perfect for the purpose of reflecting on Memorial Day.
SPR (Saving Private Ryan) does an excellent job of showing the pure horror of war while not diminishing the sacrifice of the men who fought in it. The soldiers are portrayed with respect and reverence but none of the brutality of combat is glossed over. The “bookends” of the movie with private Ryan as a old man, a grandfather, with a familial legacy immediately present give a context and a perspective to the sacrifice of those who did not make it and were not able to “pursue happiness” and get married and have a family, or make it back to see their wife, their mother, father, or children. SPR is a deeply personal look at the characters and their sacrifice that also takes in the scope and importance of the Normandy invasion. It is a truly great movie.
I highly recommend viewing it as a Memorial Day ritual; it definitely puts one in a reflective posture and causes one to be thankful to those young men who have given the “last full measure of devotion” for their country.
Second, on Monday we attended a Memorial Day service at the local cemetery. When we drove into the cemetery I was amazed at the hundreds of large American Flags lining the entrance drive and the surrounding roads, supported by over 3,500 small American flags on the graves. I expected a small dedicated crowd, mostly older largely WWII generation; but, I was thoroughly surprised and tremendously encouraged by the one thousand people and overflow crowd who had shown up for the ceremony. Even more notable perhaps was the cross-generational cross-cultural make up of the crowd. Our culture is so niche marketed with youth music, youth clubs, and restaurants and movies targeted to certain ages and tastes…it is rare to have a community event and location that draws people from all ages and backgrounds. There were the WWII generation folks, veterans of every recent conflict, as well as young families with their young children, teenagers, young couples, boy scouts, the fire department, the police department, all types of service organizations. I was really buoyed by the crowd and their enthusiasm and respectful demeanor. It felt good to share this experience with fellow Americans, Americans who were proud of the service that our Armed services have provided, and thankful enough to take their day off to attend a service commemorating their sacrifice. As I looked around and took it all in I was enjoying the communal experience and the respite from the normal isolation that our individualistic society normally serves up (don’t get me wrong I love individualism, but there needs to be a balance).
It was a fine and reverent service complete with a speech by a Marine General who had just returned from Iraq and gave first hand accounts of the battle for Fallujah. He praised the parents, teachers, coaches, ministers and everyone who had shaped the lives of the young marines that served under him. He said he had internal skepticism about whether or not this “MTV” generation of Americans would have the metal for battle and sacrifice, but his hope was renewed by the tremendous valor, courage, and sacrifice of those who served in his command.
There were some songs, a laying of wreaths on a memorial to the overseas war dead from all the wars and it ended with the whole crowd joining in “God Bless America.” I must say that I truly enjoyed my first Memorial Day service and I look forward to making it a tradition.
We have lost a sense of public ritual in our society. Our many national holidays are minimally celebrated and are usually not cause for celebration and reflection but merely as an excuse to take a three day weekend trip to Vegas, the river, the beach etc. Even if we do take these times for trips and fun in the sun, it seems appropriate to make space for some form of ritual and tradition to remember the purpose of these holi-days…
First, Friday night I assembled a group of friends to watch Saving Private Ryan in this special theatre setting that was available to us. I provided a brief history of Memorial Day and some facts and background on D-Day before the movie. Saving Private Ryan is a truly great film (the best “war” film ever made in my mind) and perfect for the purpose of reflecting on Memorial Day.
SPR (Saving Private Ryan) does an excellent job of showing the pure horror of war while not diminishing the sacrifice of the men who fought in it. The soldiers are portrayed with respect and reverence but none of the brutality of combat is glossed over. The “bookends” of the movie with private Ryan as a old man, a grandfather, with a familial legacy immediately present give a context and a perspective to the sacrifice of those who did not make it and were not able to “pursue happiness” and get married and have a family, or make it back to see their wife, their mother, father, or children. SPR is a deeply personal look at the characters and their sacrifice that also takes in the scope and importance of the Normandy invasion. It is a truly great movie.
I highly recommend viewing it as a Memorial Day ritual; it definitely puts one in a reflective posture and causes one to be thankful to those young men who have given the “last full measure of devotion” for their country.
Second, on Monday we attended a Memorial Day service at the local cemetery. When we drove into the cemetery I was amazed at the hundreds of large American Flags lining the entrance drive and the surrounding roads, supported by over 3,500 small American flags on the graves. I expected a small dedicated crowd, mostly older largely WWII generation; but, I was thoroughly surprised and tremendously encouraged by the one thousand people and overflow crowd who had shown up for the ceremony. Even more notable perhaps was the cross-generational cross-cultural make up of the crowd. Our culture is so niche marketed with youth music, youth clubs, and restaurants and movies targeted to certain ages and tastes…it is rare to have a community event and location that draws people from all ages and backgrounds. There were the WWII generation folks, veterans of every recent conflict, as well as young families with their young children, teenagers, young couples, boy scouts, the fire department, the police department, all types of service organizations. I was really buoyed by the crowd and their enthusiasm and respectful demeanor. It felt good to share this experience with fellow Americans, Americans who were proud of the service that our Armed services have provided, and thankful enough to take their day off to attend a service commemorating their sacrifice. As I looked around and took it all in I was enjoying the communal experience and the respite from the normal isolation that our individualistic society normally serves up (don’t get me wrong I love individualism, but there needs to be a balance).
It was a fine and reverent service complete with a speech by a Marine General who had just returned from Iraq and gave first hand accounts of the battle for Fallujah. He praised the parents, teachers, coaches, ministers and everyone who had shaped the lives of the young marines that served under him. He said he had internal skepticism about whether or not this “MTV” generation of Americans would have the metal for battle and sacrifice, but his hope was renewed by the tremendous valor, courage, and sacrifice of those who served in his command.
There were some songs, a laying of wreaths on a memorial to the overseas war dead from all the wars and it ended with the whole crowd joining in “God Bless America.” I must say that I truly enjoyed my first Memorial Day service and I look forward to making it a tradition.
We have lost a sense of public ritual in our society. Our many national holidays are minimally celebrated and are usually not cause for celebration and reflection but merely as an excuse to take a three day weekend trip to Vegas, the river, the beach etc. Even if we do take these times for trips and fun in the sun, it seems appropriate to make space for some form of ritual and tradition to remember the purpose of these holi-days…
posted by Lil' Mermaid | 12:44 PM
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