Strive to live for others

Our Opinion
Published: May 28, 2008

On Memorial Day, America remembered.  As the nation mourned those who made the highest sacrifice, its sorrow translated into sweet celebration. We are sad because those we have lost were so good. Their virtue has not disappeared but remains to comfort survivors and to guide them.

Memorial Day specifically honors those who fell in service. Buglers play “Taps.” Flowers and flags decorate graves. If the living break faith with the dead, then none reposing below will sleep though the poppies in Flanders fields grow. It is impossible to think of lost soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines without thinking of troops fighting in distant battlegrounds and of troops stationed stateside, for our sakes, ever on guard. The Book of Common Prayer says:

“Almighty God, we commend to your gracious care and keeping all the men and women of our armed forces at home and abroad. Defend them day by day with your heavenly grace; strengthen them in their trials and temptations; give them courage to face the perils which beset them; and grant them a sense of your abiding presence wherever they may be. . . .”

Patriotism and a commitment to the people who serve are not the exclusive properties of particular faiths, denominations, or creeds. All may share noble sentiments. Individuals and traditions express themselves in various ways. The point is to offer gratitude and to spread loving-kindness — today, tomorrow, and throughout all days, even unto the end of the world. Holidays commemorate goodness. By reminding us of what others were, they make us aware of what we can be. A head humbly lowered at marker or tombstone sets sights high. Let us resolve to live the lives our heroes led.

— The Richmond Times-Dispatch