Editor’s note: This commentary is by Bob Stannard, an author,musician and former lobbyist. This piece first appeared in the Bennington Banner.
[A]s I write this it’s Memorial Day. President John F. Kennedy would have been 100 years old today. The first thing I see is an AP story: “Has Memorial Day Lost Its Meaning?” Boy, I sure hope not. Growing up in South Dorset in the ‘50s and ‘60s this was one of the most important days of my life. This was the day my mom would grace the townspeople with her beautiful voice as she sang “The Lord’s Prayer” like nobody could. This was the day that my dad would don his uniform and lead the veterans of Dorset in a parade that culminated in the playing of taps at the grave of the unknown soldier.
After the parade the vets would go to what I think was the VFW Hall and/or Ray Bushee’s house and go upstairs for a beer and to play some pool. On the wall was a painting of fighting WWI soldiers. A cigarette dangled from the mouth of one soldier whose gaze grabbed the viewer and would not let go. “Those were real men,” I would think to myself. I was maybe 10 and didn’t know that in reality they were just scared kids. Oh, they were tough all right, but they were still just kids.
If you’re a regular reader you know that I recently spent a few days in Gettysburg, the site of the battle that resulted in Decoration Day and what we now know as Memorial Day. When we think about Memorial Day we tend to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in our more recent conflicts (we don’t call them wars anymore), but that’s not right. Memorial Day is the one day in the year where we should stop and honor those who have died in ALL of our wars.
Once the fear of being drafted was lifted so was the concern for getting involved in more wars.
Perhaps this holiday has lost its meaning. As a nation we are no longer engaged in the conflicts that are happening on our behalf. When the draft ceased a generation ago and we went to an all-volunteer military, the pressure was off. Rich families no longer had to find ways to keep their kids from being drafted. Once the fear of being drafted was lifted so was the concern for getting involved in more wars.
Ask anyone you meet how long we have been fighting in Afghanistan and see what they say. Few of us realize that our military has been involved there since 2001. Sixteen years and the longest running “war” in our history, and most of us don’t even know we’re there, say nothing about honoring those who we’ve lost.
Since July 1, 1863, we’ve made some improvements. Instead of having tens of thousands of young men race at each other with muskets with bayonets and slashing each other limb from limb with knives and swords, we now kill each other with impersonal drone strikes and airstrikes. We’re working harder every day to avoid the messy side of killing. Sure we want our enemies dead; we just don’t want to suffer the uncomfortable inconvenience of looking into their eyes as we kill them. That’s really hard to do and should you ever have the occasion to do so you’ll never be the same again.
Wars serve to increase profits for some while producing many heroes, some real, some imagined. If you ask me, each and every person who died in a war so that others could prosper are all heroes. It should be our job to do everything in our power to cease adding to the list of kids who die on our behalf and without our knowledge.
Abraham Lincoln anguished over the Civil War and desperately wanted to bring it to a close. JFK saw war up close and had little stomach for Vietnam, a “conflict” he inherited.
I fear our new president might be different. He could be enticed by profiteering from war versus worried about creating more heroes.
