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| 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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