How Do You Remember Those Who Make Freedom Possible?

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday is Memorial Day, a day set apart to honor the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice and gave their lives in service to America. Much of this post will come from an article published today by the editorial board of The Deseret News.

In a world where we are hearing of wars and rumors of wars, we need people who will stand between America and the enemies of freedom. We should honor those brave and courageous people and be grateful for their service. We should also be grateful for their parents, spouses, siblings, children, and grandchildren who also make sacrifices to support their heroes and particularly those survivors who lost their loved ones.

We currently have a war between Russia and Ukraine, a war between Israel and Hamas, the threat of war between China and Taiwan, and similar threats from North Korea and Venezuela. Too many nations now have or will soon have nuclear weapons – “human-made devices” that could cause a global catastrophe. The editorial board said it this way:

Which is to say that Memorial Day will likely continue to be a somber event as freedom and liberty continue to demand the “last full measure of devotion,” as Abraham Lincoln put it, of the nation’s bravest and ablest young men and women.

The nation can do much to avoid war by remaining vigilant and strong, and yet national security continues to require the ultimate sacrifice from too many.

Memorial Day demands a certain measure of devotion: a duty to honor those who offered their lives in exchange for our own ease and prosperity. To treat it only as the unofficial first day of summer seems profane….

Nearly 1.4 million Americans have given their lives in combat or in other military related ways since the American Revolution. Their sacred sacrifice puts today’s worries and conflicts in perspective. We have free and open elections because of their blood. We enjoy the right to speak our minds because of their valor. We dishonor them by treating members of the opposite political party as enemies or by threatening violence.

Perhaps the truest words in Washington are found etched into the Korean War Memorial: “Freedom is Not Free.” …The lust for power, whether fueled by phony national emergencies, promises to rid the world of class distinctions or the need to avenge this movement or that ethnic group, seems to reinvent itself constantly in the world. To those who would hold onto tyranny, real and imagined enemies abound, and oppression is often the most prescribed form of quackery.

It is a measure of American optimism that people once labeled the First World War as the “war to end all wars.” Once liberty had triumphed over her enemies, the thought was, tyranny would be subdued forever. That brand of naiveté no longer exists.

And yet it would be wrong to ignore how liberty’s triumphs, fueled by each successive generation of brave men and women, have kept freedom’s flame burning strong in many corners of the world and here at home.

Certainly, the threats posed by nuclear weapons make doomsday’s midnight toll an ever-present lurker. But because of Memoria Day, those 90 seconds until midnight seem much brighter and less menacing than many would have you believe.

All Americans should take at least a first minutes on Memorial Day to recognize the sacrifices made to protect our freedoms and liberties. Approximately 1.4 million Americans have died to make freedom possible for more than 340,000,000 Americans today.