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May 31, 2004
MEMORIAL DAY
Today is the day set aside for us to remember the American heroes who have fallen in service of our country. It's a cliche to complain about how the day's become a commercialized excuse for barbecue and how the true meaning's been lost. Not only is it cliche, but I think the criticism is invalid. The beginning of summer -- and the trips to the shore, the family picnics, and the barbecues that go with it -- is as deeply ingrained a part of American culture as fireworks on the 4th of July or a Norman Rockwell painting.
I'm struck this year by the differences between our culture and the culture of the extremists who have chosen to make themselves our enemy. They've taken great pleasure in trying to convey to us that they have no respect for life, and celebrate death. This is supposed to make us afraid of them. It doesn't.
It doesn't take a whole lot of bravery to blow oneself up in an attempt to kill as many civilians as possible, marking victims for death for the simple crime of chance -- they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time; all that takes is cowardice. It doesn't take heroism to fight for a cause whose aim is simply to incite fear in those who worship a different god; all that takes is fanaticism. And it doesn't take courage to give up one's life in service of that cause when one has nothing to lose; all that takes is being too simple minded to fight off attempts at manipulation by evil minds.
But in America, we have our own martyrs. No suicide bombers in the United States of America -- our heroes are too brave for that kind of cowardice. Our guys have thrown themselves on grenades... blowing themselves up not to take dozens of innocent lives, but to save the life of one friend in a foxhole. Our guys have stormed beaches in Normandy and Iwo Jima knowing that they would never leave the beach... but believing so deeply in the cause of freedom that they never flinched in the face of that terrible duty. American soldiers have fought and died on the shores and seas and fields of nations they might not even have known existed until they faced their mission... and they have done so in willing sacrifice so that future generations that would never even know their names would live in peace and freedom.
But the biggest difference between the American military and our current enemies is this: the sacrifice has been greater, because the freedom America is founded upon also provides opportunity like nowhere else. Our soldiers and sailors and Marines and airmen have given up rich, rewarding lives full of years of relative comfort, the gold watch, the picket fence and the home with the yard all its own... baseball games on the radio... and Christmas mornings with excited kids exclaiming in wonder that Santa really did come. Our military's sacrifices have meant children who were never born, wives who were never married, Passovers never again celebrated, and Thanksgiving Day football games never watched. These men and women never took trips to the shore or enjoyed family picnics and barbecues on Memorial Day.
Some may call it arrogant to say so, but for all of our troubles and foibles, being an American comes with a greater set of privileges than citizenship of any other nation. Being an American is, quite simply, membership in the very best club of them all; the only qualification for membership is a commitment to freedom. And when the times have come -- as they have, time and sad time again throughout our history -- to demonstrate that commitment, our young men and women have answered the call, willingly cashing in their memberships so that unknown others might someday join. Americans have the most to lose... and yet we're the fastest to give it up when we must. We love our freedom that much, and we treasure the fact that this freedom will endure long after any of us have ceased to be. That's something to remember, honor, and celebrate.
Despite the mistakes we make -- and we do make them, we're only human -- being American means something, still. The most beautiful part of all is that we each have the freedom to determine that meaning for ourselves, and to put it into practice in our own way. In military cemeteries in Normandy, Arlington, Belgium, Italy, Hawaii, Japan, and countless other places around the world, Americans lie whose names I will never know. These men and women chose to put it into practice by making the supreme sacrifice, so that I might someday decide how to put it into practice for myself. That they would never know my name or anything about my life was not important to them; they did it anyway. All I can say to them, today and every day... is thank you.
