A Thought for Memorial Day : Indifference to the meaning of past wars can carry a heavy cost

On this Memorial Day, as on others for more than a century, the graves of veterans of the armed services will be decorated with flags and flowers. Some speeches will be made and some prayers offered, guns will be fired in salute, and here and there bands will play. But only a handful of us will participate in these rites, and probably not many more will even notice. Now as in years past, the vast majority of Americans are unlikely to spare even a moment’s thought to reflect on what it is this day has been set aside to remember, and to take instruction from.

We cheat ourselves by this indifference. We cheat ourselves if we do not use this occasion to recall and so reinforce our knowledge of two facts that we as a free people dare never forget. The first is that wars are not adventures or glory or political abstractions. Wars are suffering and destruction, and their most basic reality is the grim toll of bodies destroyed and lives lost and families left to grieve. The second fact is that sometimes this nation has been given no choice except to fight in defense of its values and its interests. And at some future point it may have no choice but to do so again.

Today is officially the day for honoring the dead of this nation’s wars. It should also be a time for reflecting on history and its somber lessons that weakness, vacillation in the face of threats to vital interests and uncertainty of purpose all sooner or later invite catastrophe. The debate over America’s role in the world and how and where it should be prepared to use its military power remains ongoing, as is proper. The debate over the perils of failing to remain engaged in world affairs has long since been resolved. Many of those whose graves will be decorated today were part of that resolution.