Memorial Day: Remembering The Preciousness of Freedom

Memorial Day, in some ways, like the topic of death itself, has a tendency to conjure up issues people would rather not discuss. It is so much easier to do some backyard barbeque with family and friends (especially now that we know the COVID lockdowns are not based on medical rationale but on political manipulation). Sadly, in the backyard gatherings, or even planned public events, the deeper topic concerning those who sacrificed their lives for a higher purpose, is not fully addressed. It may be on people’s minds, in the deeper recesses of their thoughts, but talking about the willing sacrifice of one’s life for one’s nation, or for the greater cause of freedom, is not often a topic easily dealt with in a casual manner.

Memorial Day was born from the ashes of destruction and incredible loss as a result of the American Civil War

The real reason we celebrate Memorial Day is not to have an excuse for the backyard barbeques or a three-day weekend holiday. Memorial Day was born from the ashes of destruction and incredible loss as a result of the American Civil War. Tragically, over 620,000 men and boys died in the American Civil War, more than in any other war in which the United States has been involved. The incredibly painful experience of the loss of hundreds of thousands of men and boys prompted the Veteran’s Association to provide a practical means (initially known as “Decoration Day”) for those families and survivors to mourn and honor their loved ones and family members. Memorial Day was born as Lincoln prescribed in his Gettysburg Address — a day to honor those who gave their lives so that a nation so conceived and so dedicated could survive. To Abraham Lincoln, it was not a certainty that the Union would prevail. It is difficult to reason differently when Lincoln used the words in his Gettysburg Address: “Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived (conceived in Liberty) and so dedicated (dedicated to Equality) can long endure.” This sentiment was expressed by Lincoln in the middle of the war--not at the end. It is a sobering thought that such a nation, so conceived and so dedicated, had no assurance of lasting for any significant period of time. It is disturbingly similar to confronting one’s own mortality, although on a national scale. The Civil War left the population devastated, in many ways, but in the years following the destruction, the nation managed to pull back together again. The country survived despite incredible odds that it would not. Unfortunately today, most Americans seem to take it for granted that the United States would have endured the civil war. However, hindsight is insulated from the intensity and turbulence of the moment. Additionally, as the nation moved beyond this incredibly dark time, Memorial Day continued to represent the day to remember the sacrifice of those who gave their lives in service to their nation on some distant or foreign battlefields. But, because of this passage of time, and other wars in other years, the original purpose for the creation of Memorial Day has grown dim in the minds of Americans.

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Refreshing our understanding of Lincoln’s words in the Gettysburg Address

Refreshing our understanding of Lincoln’s words in the Gettysburg Address can help us refresh our appreciation of the preciousness of Freedom itself. He delivered his address in November of 1863, just 87 years after the birth of the United States; it would be about a year and a half before the war ended. The U.S. was deeply politically divided and horribly embattled “in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.” The nation was essentially fighting for its survival in such a dark and desperate time, and there was no guarantee the nation would be able to survive. New American patriots had to be willing to inherit the vision of the Founding Fathers, to take ownership of that inheritance, and to be willing to fight to preserve the very ideals of freedom established by the founding generations. American patriots in that time also had to be willing to lay down their lives for such an inheritance. The Founders pursued the dream of independence from the centralized authority of Great Britain -- independence from the absolute rule of the monarch whom they viewed as a tyrant. But, that dream of political independence from a tyrannical government was the dream of Freedom for all people. The Founding Fathers were in a state of mind that enabled them to “dream big.” They were descendants from a system of government that struggled with dreams of freedom from tyranny before. The Magna Carta represented the result of one such struggle to secure freedom. The English Civil War represented such a struggle for freedom from tyranny. But, those glorious efforts were not successful in establishing a land of freedom. Tyranny always rose up in one form or another, to pull people back down under the yoke of a monarch’s dominion, or as in the case of the French Revolution, the tyranny of the “people,” which represented blatant democracy.

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Only the War for Independence established a foundation for Freedom

Only the War for Independence established a foundation for Freedom. But, patriots had to be willing to lay down their lives for the sake of Freedom. Patrick Henry voiced what many were willing to do:

It is in vain sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace — but there is no peace. The war is actually begun… Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me Liberty or give me death!

Patrick Henry’s impassioned ultimatum reverberated throughout the colonies, and many patriots took his sincere sentiments to heart. They were willing to stand against British tyranny. In Lexington and Concord, brave men and boys willingly gave their lives for the sake of Freedom. There was no United States at that moment in time. There was no nation that would honor their deaths as they sacrificed all that they had-- especially their precious lives. They gave their sweat, their tears, and also shed their blood for an ideal of Freedom.

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How precious do we hold Freedom?

In the same manner, those who were willing to sacrifice their lives for others’ freedom ignited the sentiments woven into Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Lincoln got it right in those desperate days of conflict in the Republic. He ultimately grasped that the “peculiar institution” of slavery in the South was the substantial antithesis of Freedom, and it was the spark behind the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln had prayed to God in his own struggle with this destructive institution that had been perpetuated from the days under colonial rule of the king. It was an ugly remnant of centralized authority under a tyrant. Yet, it was the blood of patriots during the Civil War that advanced Freedom for all of the people. To carry forward the torch of Freedom is what Lincoln urged in his time, urging the survivors, the living, “to be dedicated to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion-- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.” It is not that complex a task to recognize the “cause” for which the honored dead of the Union Army sacrificed their lives. It went far beyond “for the sake of their country,” far beyond a mere “nationalistic” goal. Abraham Lincoln’s conclusion expressed his hope was that “this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” This is what we have inherited. Patriots’ blood advanced the cause of Freedom. How precious do we hold Freedom?