Memorial Day: What are We Really Honoring?
It’s stormy in much of the country today. Wherever the rain isn’t falling, people are at parades and cookouts. Some go to cemeteries to leave coins on headstones. Memorial Day is about honoring those who fell while serving in the Armed Forces of the United States of America.
The remembrances which led to Memorial Day began following the Civil War. One of the most popular stories is about formerly enslaved people who honored Union soldiers with reburial and dedication after rescuing the remains from a mass grave in May 1865. While this event did occur, it was not the only one to inspire current tradition. Remembrances were held nationwide, and such displays have occurred for as long as humans have waged war upon one another.
To this day, most people in the United States recognize Memorial Day. Whether it be family members, friends, or acquaintances, war has left virtually no one untouched. It is only natural to show love and respect for those who did not return from battle. That said, what does it mean to honor soldiers who have died in immoral conflicts?
Since World War II, unjust wars have killed thousands of soldiers from the United States and its allies. In turn, those soldiers and surviving veterans have served orders based upon deceit and greed. Lance Corporal Joe Glenton, a former British soldier, wrote about the betrayal he and other veterans felt after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a 2016 opinion piece in The Guardian, he likened soldiers to “hired muscle for great power.”
For someone who loathes war, it’s difficult to parse pacifist feelings with wanting to honor the dead. It is said that soldiers who die at war have died heroically. Perhaps they saved other soldiers by sacrificing their lives. Maybe they were hit by IEDs while transporting materials. There are any number of scenarios in which they may have died, and many are heroic. However, the soldiers of the past two generations have served in wars that held little to no bearing upon the freedoms of our nation. As writer Noah Brand points out in his post, “How to Honor Soldiers Who Died for No Reason,” our freedoms were guaranteed by the Founding Fathers. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution outlined those rights from the beginning, as do modern amendments and Supreme Court rulings. Other than the Civil War, our freedoms have been secure. World Wars I and II defended allies by halting the spread of fascism, which presented a real danger should it had gone unchecked. Inversely, the War on Terror has been a disaster since the “intel” that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Between the 1940s and now exists a blood-stained list of conflicts based upon deceit and resources, not freedom.
Memorial Day evokes patriotism and military glory among American citizens. For all too many people in the rest of the world, it’s a frightening reminder of a nation proud of its kill rates and invasion tactics. One can only imagine what this day means to someone whose country was invaded under false pretenses. Can you?
