As I ran through the woods this morning, I thought to myself, “I need to remember better.”

I try to spend a few moments alone every Memorial Day. I remember the guys from my unit who lost their lives in Iraq (after I got out). I remember not only those who lost their lives but also the families who are left behind to grieve. I remember the servicemen and women who made it home but not whole. Some who are either missing limbs, fighting mental illness, turning to substances to fight their demons, and those whose pain is ultimately too much to bear, all flood my mind on this day. It is a day of mourning. It is a day to remember.

I remember marching in Holland’s Memorial Day Parade with my Grandpa. He was in the Navy, and I was in the Marine Corps. I looked forward to that day every year. People waved and cheered for us as we walked by. When we made it to the cemetery, the cheering stopped and we marched in silence.

While I was obviously a little young, I marched with my grandpa in the “Korean War” group. When we finished, we watched the Vietnam and then the Desert Storm veterans march into the cemetery. I remember thinking to myself, it would be nice if the parade ended with them. It didn’t. Since then, we have had over two decades of the war on terror. Sadly, the parade has gotten much longer. 

Some remember the lost through parades or fireworks. Some simply go about their day off not remembering at all. I tend to remember through suffering. . . a run, a workout, something to make me feel. We all remember in different ways, but I think most of us could remember better. While there is something noble and beneficial about looking back, it seems that the best way to remember the sacrifices of the past would be to change our present. 

How much energy have I put into peace? I look at the college students I teach and I realize that for my American students, their nation has been at war since before they were born. In my classroom or behind the pulpit, have I waged for peace? Or has violence and simply become the accepted norm?

If we are not careful sometimes our remembrances can actually glorify the evils that they represent. Military flyovers at sporting events cause the masses to cheer. They’ve caused me to cheer. These stealth fighter jets, massive bombers, and attack helicopters are impressive, as are pilots who fly them, the engineers who design them, and the mechanics who keep them aloft. But they are instruments of death, and we cheer for them.

Image bearers of God continue to be slaughtered daily in our world. For what. . . power, money, pride, land, resources, hatred? From Hamas terrorists brutally killing and kidnapping young people at a concert and families in a suburb to the hell unleashed by Israel upon those in Gaza as a “response” to those actions, how has my remembering helped any of them? From the needless gunning down of a Jewish couple on the streets of DC to the deportation of those who simply call out reminders that we should be doing better, how has my remembering helped any of them?

On a day we remember the sacrifice of others, we must confess that we are willing to sacrifice so little ourselves. I love history, and maybe the historians who read this can offer me a corrective nudge, but it seems that one of the benefits of remembering our history is to move us in our present to give hope and a path for a better future. 

The sacrifice of my friends in Iraq is not best remembered with parades or named workouts in their honor. They are dead. They are honored best when we speak and live in ways that promote peace. They are honored most when we live so that no one would need to make the same sacrifice that they made. 

Peace is complicated and hard. I am certainly not suggesting otherwise. But, the heroes that we honor on Memorial Day were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of others. How much of my life am I willing to sacrifice so that the other, the marginalized, the poor, the broken might experience freedom? 

Today I will raise a (non-alcoholic) glass to honor those who have given everything. But today, this day after Memorial Day, I will try to remember better. I will carry the memories of yesterday’s sufferings, to live a better today that will give hope for tomorrow. I will do my small part to make sure the parades need not get any longer.

Header photo by David Clode on Unsplash