Friday, May 29, 2015

Time to Revitalize Memorial Day


How many now know what his symbolizes?
What might have appeared as yet another nondescript Memorial Day has passed again; yet this one, left us with a couple of significant noteworthy ponderances.         

First was the news that after more than 20 years, Valley City, North Dakota was forced to cancel their Memorial Day parade.  The local Chapter of the VFW is steadily losing membership.  Younger vets are not filling those empty membership slots.  "Nationwide, younger veterans are not inclined to join these organizations," said Bill Prokopyk, the National Guard's public information officer.   As a result the VFW failed to draw enough participants to fill key roles in the parade, including the color guard which provides the appropriate U.S. military honors.   Added to that frustration is the ever growing number of residents who vacate the city for fishing, boating at their lake homes, camping and etc. foregoing holiday celebrations.                        
Veteran’s organizations do a great job of fighting for veterans benefits, helping troubled veterans with daily life challenges and honoring fallen service members.  This verity along with the Valley City occurrence couldn’t help but ignite a concern as to what future America will resemble if we continue to place recreational activities before our fallen soldiers.
 
Next we have a magnificent article that appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on May 25, 2015.  In the Kent Youngblood and David La Vaque writing (Memorial Day Memories: A Time To Serve Not Play) they report on their interview with former Viking Head Coach Bud Grant.  This exceptional article places Memorial Day in its proper perspective by drawing contrasts between our contemporary sports scene and those that serve our country.

They emphasize that the insane sports fanaticism that has come to grip our culture was once unheard of in America.  The authors use Grant’s service in the Second World War as their lynchpin in calling for an awakening in priorities and American spirit.  Grant experienced firsthand the awful scourges of war as he witnessed the killing of his fellow Americans. Through Grant it is pointed out that only a small number of Americans now remain who remember those days and are therefore capable of placing athletic events and Memorial Day in their proper perspective.  This knowledge is crucial in contemporary times if we are to ever create, once again, the solemn place this holiday should hold in ALL American hearts.   On this Memorial Day, a generation can reflect on an era when American sports were relegated to such a status that Major League Baseball, America’s runaway champion of sport in the 1940s, needed a nudge from the president to continue playing its games. The war was the focus, and the people in it.”

“ ‘On days like this, that’s what I think about,’ (Bud) Grant said. ‘Not football games, Super Bowls. That’s entertainment. There is a difference between heroes and stars. Those guys were heroes. In sports, we don’t do anything heroic, we just entertain. … No other generation has those kind of memories. So losing a Super Bowl is not that important.’ ” 

This brought to mind the greatest baseball game ever played.  It was on July 2, 1963 when Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves dueled with Juan Marichal for 16 innings at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.  We’ll never see that again.

In recounting this, one can hardly ignore that Spahn, like Grant, also served during the Second World War.  He too saw many of his fellow service men killed.  He served with distinction.  He saw action in the Battle of the Bulge, was wounded and awarded a purple heart and earned a battlefield commission for his heroism.  Rest assured; 16 innings of dueling with Marichal and facing Willie Mays probably paralleled a pleasant Sunday stroll in the park for Spahn. 

While Spahn’s words may be different, they echo exactly the same sentiment held by Bud Grant. The army taught me something about challenges, and about what’s important and what isn’t.” 

Have we really reached the point where Memorial Day is now primarily “A time to Play?”  Is it really so outrageous to suggest that Major League Baseball teams suspend play on Memorial Day or that we do our camping and boating between Friday and Sunday returning home on Sunday to use that additional Monday to honor our fallen service men?  It was General George Patton who summarized it perfectly.  Compared to war, all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance.” 

If we no longer hold to that conviction and deeply cherish the significance of that reality, than it is clear that America would now best be served by eliminating the Memorial Day holiday.

Related Reference:  Why a Memorial Day

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