Arlington National Cemetery is the place that receives the
most attention on Memorial Day, though it is but one of 141 national cemeteries
in the United States and 24 others located on foreign soil.
Unfortunately, war is sometimes the answer. When it is,
soldiers die.
War is sometimes the answer, because freedom is something we
cherish. We care for our neighbors, of course. The greatest single gift we can
offer our neighbors is freedom. With freedom comes responsibility,
responsibility to ensure that our freedom is maintained. Freedom is never free, but comes at a cost of
lives, time, effort and responsibility.
War is sometimes the answer, because tyrants want to take
freedom away. We may disagree over whether this war or that war was fought for
the right reasons. Yet, this nation keeps its armed services ready because
someone, somewhere, is plotting to take away our freedom. The greatest gift we
can give to each other is a free nation. The greatest gift this nation can
offer to the world is to remain free.
Today, we have a volunteer military. These persons put their
lives on the line for this nation every day. We are grateful for their service.
Yet, as we all know, on this weekend, which is more than just a race, a long
weekend, or a time for cookouts, it is a time to remember those who have died
serving their country through the military.
The practice is centuries old. Pericles, the Athenian
leader, noted “Not only are they commemorated by column and inscriptions, but
there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the
hearts of men.” This tribute was given
to the fallen heroes of the Peloponnesian War more than four centuries before
Christ was born.
The words of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Abraham
Lincoln were enough to inspire their generations, and many after them. Yet,
without General George Washington and his soldiers, they would have been words
on a page. Without the leadership of many generals, but especially U. S. Grant,
and the many soldiers who fought in the Civil War, the words of Lincoln would
never have actually liberated slaves. The opposition to the horrors of Nazi
Germany would have been nothing more than fine sentiments were it not for the
generals and soldiers who fought in WWII. In this imperfect world, no matter
how beautiful the words, words are not enough.
Some people raise the question of whether this nation is
worthy of such sacrifice. The simple answer is, unequivocally, “Yes.” Yet, many
people, including many in the Christian community, think that on the world stage,
all nations are morally equal. Is this nation different from that of others?
The Declaration of Independence holds the answer.
“We hold these truths to be
self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty,
and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
I love my country. I am thankful for it. America has always
been about an idea. It has fallen short of practicing the idea. However, let me
ask you a couple questions. Do you love your spouse? I hope you do. Is he or
she perfect? I seriously doubt it. Do you love your parents? I hope so. Are
they perfect? They are far from it. We live in a nation today that is the
result of decisions made by our “parents,” those who have gone on before us.
Many of them saw the ways in which the nation fell short of the ideal of
freedom, and worked to expand such freedoms. We have even more work to do in
this regard.
In my mind, this nation is a grand experiment worth
sacrifice and effort.
I hope we cherish the immortal words of Abraham Lincoln in
his Gettysburg address:
"We can not dedicate, we can not
consecrate, we can not hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who
struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or
detract."
Today, we cannot consecrate this land. The over one million
soldiers who have died have already done so.
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