Did those who died in this country’s wars, who defended an egalitarian, optimistic, forward-looking society, die so that its lawmaking bodies would simply sit on their hands doing nothing, stymied when confronted with issues demanding action?
Did those who died in this country’s wars die so that the random murder of one’s fellow citizens with semiautomatic weapons would be preserved among its citizenry’s unalienable rights?
Did those who died in this country’s wars die to preserve democracy, or to have it so stifled by discord that the nation’s citizens would kneel to a megalomaniacal autocrat?
Did those who died in this country’s wars die so that this country, which had been the beacon to the world, would itself wither and die?
We dishonor them if we don’t set about reviving civil discourse, revering truth, and reacquainting ourselves with the nation’s founding principles. Perhaps Memorial Day is a good one in which to reread the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, for it should be all of a piece — a nation whose ideals are worth striving for and worth dying for.
Yes, we would honor those who have died in our nation’s battles if we the living rededicated ourselves to the balanced view that attends the documents that gave this country life and purpose, documents of equanimity, of checks and balances designed to decentralize power, documents that while guaranteeing rights and freedom, did not confer the license that some may mistakenly equate with it.
It is up to us, we the living, to assure that those honored on Memorial Day did not die in vain by continuing on, not veering from, the path toward a more perfect union.