This Memorial Day, Honor the Fallen by Making Them the Last

By Cristine Pedersen

This Memorial Day, like many others, I am thinking of the shared collective grief experienced in isolation. The quarantine adds fuel to the fire in our minds as we all individually work through how we could have changed things, what we could have said or done to protect our fellow comrades, and how we move forward from here. How do we honor the legacy of those lost? For me, it’s not just flowers or Facebook posts, but an intimidating challenge- make them the last. Do all I can to commit to and sustain peace domestically and abroad.

I am also deeply distressed to learn new details of an attack on our nation’s service members that occurred on March 21 in Corpus Christi. My concerns are not only for the brave sailor whose actions saved lives, but also for the community that, to many, the shooter represents. The shooter was a young man of Syrian descent. A country whose people have proven resilient in the face of both an authoritarian regime and a violent insurgency, Syria is known to many Americans as simply a warzone. For those who have been to Syria or know Syrian people you have heard of the beauty of this place, the diversity of its culture and society, and the strength of its people in the face of a near decade of conflict.

This news tore through my heart. As with many, an attack on service members fills me with pain and anxiety as I scramble to find out if they are someone I know and love, a cold, self-centered, but very real feeling many of us know well reading the names of the dead in the Military Times or more recently on Facebook or Twitter. I also feel a deeper more subtle pain, a wound that never quite heals, knowing that this attack means another delay in peace, another wave of Islamophobia, another generation believing in the false narrative of “us versus them.” Muslim Americans have proudly served in our nation’s military since the Civil War. Immigrants and refugees are well represented amongst our ranks as well. But all of these communities, will somehow bear the misplaced weight of this act of hate in some way.

This attack casts an unwarranted shadow over the legacy of service of Muslim Americans and sends fear into the hearts of many Americans who fear they may receive backlash on this man’s behalf. Additionally, it is acts like this that stoke the flame of political division even further and risk exposing our service members to even more harm as they are thrust further into wars against an ideology of hate.

This Memorial Day I am tired, cautious, and focused. I am tired of these cycles of hate, I am cautious not to speak for all but steadfast in knowing I speak for many fed up with division. I am focused in my resolve that the best way to carry out the legacy of those we mourn today is to move forward with love, acceptance, and strong criticism for the way we have been operating as a nation. Nearly two decades into the Global War on Terror, our ineffective methods have led to tremendous civilian loss, a fresh generation of soldiers navigating the world with severe moral injury, and a world divided and afraid.

To allow this abhorrent attack to lead to an increase in Islamophobic behavior would be a failure of American ideals. And as part of these ideals, we must honor the legacy of the fallen by building bridges, across religion, ethnicity, and identity, that will form the foundation for a future peace and by holding our leaders accountable to do the same.

Cristine Pedersen is a Defense Council member within the Truman National Security Project a Marine Corps veteran and aspiring diplomat. Her work focuses on decreasing civilian harm in conflict through diplomatic and humanitarian means. @cristinemariep