Memorial Day

This weekend is Memorial Day. This is the day each year when we, as a nation, celebrate the mortal sacrifices of our service men and women who have lost their lives in defense of this great nation. The exact origin of this tradition remains a little unclear, but it certainly grew out of the Civil War and some type of official celebration began shortly thereafter. At first it was Decoration Day, when the graves of fallen soldiers were decorated to honor them. Then it seems to have grown from there. For those of you interested in such history, I have pasted below what seems to be the actual history of Memorial Day for your further reading. At this time, however, I only wish to encourage any who read these words to remember those who have paid the ultimate price for the freedoms we all enjoy. Remember, also, that brave American men and women are out their risking their lives at this very moment on our behalf. I will not here endeavor to engage anyone on the politics of our current conflicts overseas, except to state our countrymen have died there and continue to live in harm’s way so they, both the living and the dead, deserve all of our honor, respect and support. Today is the day to hang up your flag, to say a prayer, perhaps even make a phone call or write a letter to those who have lost loved ones … or live daily with the fear thereof. Please don’t let this day pass without some act or thought of patriotism and gratitude. To that end, I offer the following poem in honor of those who paid the ultimate price for this great nation and our personal liberties.

Song of Freedom
Still ringing are the battle cries
Of freedom from the past
Sung out by brave young men who spilled
Their blood and breathed their last
Still waving is the flag
They proudly served and held aloft
Yet, we must be ever wary
Lest our resolve grows dim and soft
Our children need to know the legacy
Of freedom which is theirs
As the gauntlet passes on to them
For they are freedom's heirs
Sons and daughters of a liberty
Which was born of trial and strife
Paid for dearly by the countless men
Who gave both limb and life
We must keep the fire burning
May we never let it die
So our children's children's children
Know the sound of freedom's cry
It's not enough to just be born here
We have to guard our liberty
And pass it on so generations
In the future will be free
          By Frank Carpenter ©

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women's groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War: a hymn published in 1867, "Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping" by Nella L. Sweet carried the dedication "To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead" (Source: Duke University's Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920). While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it's difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860's tapped into the general human need to honor our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen Logan giving his official proclamation in 1868. It is not important who was the very first, what is important is that Memorial Day was established. Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 - 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis' birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.

Traditional observance of Memorial day has diminished over the years. Many Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored, neglected. Most people no longer remember the proper flag etiquette for the day. While there are towns and cities that still hold Memorial Day parades, many have not held a parade in decades. Some people think the day is for honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country.

Information from : http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html

Finishing Well

There is a tendency among people, especially men, to grow sour in their later years. We’ve all seen it, experienced it. This tendency comes on slowly, almost imperceptivity, then one day we suddenly notice how patience wears thin, criticism loses it constructiveness, and humor begins to bite more. The years should make us better, wiser, and more patient and more appreciative. Time should soften and improve us like a fine wine. In many cases the years do have this effect. Yet far too often we come across those who become embittered and emotionally burdensome, just when they have the experience and leisure to be the greatest blessing. And that’s what it’s all about, really. We want to love people and be loved by them. We want to leave a positive legacy for our families. Why then do so many squander the opportunity to set up as the mature fount of wisdom, the experienced confidant, and the spiritual mentor? It’s difficult to understand, because I would think that one of the loftiest goals in life should be to finish well. By this I don’t mean dying well, but living well.


Finishing well is the ultimate confirmation of a life well-lived, the litmus test of all we have professed during the previous decades. I must here clarify that I’m not speaking about money. Although these principles definitely apply thereto, finishing well financially is always subordinate in importance to the other areas of life … especially if significant sacrifices were made in order to attain a strong financial finish. In the end the comfort and security that wealth at least promises is but chaff in comparison to relational and character considerations. To me, finishing well is all about relationships: with friends, with family, with our community, and with God. Maintaining healthy relationships in each of those spheres is an indication that we understand what is truly important in life and we have sought to cultivate it. Sadly, many folks don’t think about this and turn slowly inward as their years progress, becoming ever more selfish and myopic. In time they become the aunts and uncles, parents, grandparents and friends who complain that no one ever comes to visit them. Even some people who were gregarious and generous with themselves in middle age far too often grow otherwise later on.

However, this does not have to be so. We can make choices all through our lives to keep from growing sour so that our later years can still be the most meaningful years of our lives, not only for us but also for those we care about. Even at fifty, I’ve been engaging my own friends and family members on this subject for a number of years. My plan is that if we are discussing our desire not to grow sour then we can hold one another accountable. I’m not going to wait for the people I care about to stop calling and visiting me. In fact, I’m going on the offensive because I want to be the son, father, grandpa, uncle, neighbor, and friend that I hope others will be to me. So I call, I write, I text and Facebook. I try to be proactive in every sphere of my relationships so that I’m fully engaged with people, and I encourage them to do the same. And, as I’ve written previously, I work hard to be a blessing to others, which also turns out to be the path to receiving the blessing of relationship from them. The fact is that we generally get out of life only what we put into it. This becomes even more important in our later years when we’re easier to forget or overlook. But if we make ourselves relationally indispensible then we aren’t likely to be alone. A big part of finishing well is about continuing to sow the seeds of love and joy throughout our lives, which often yields a rich harvest of happiness.

Please excuse me, but I can’t close this discussion without some mention of faith. For this is another area where I have observed people growing sour and losing heart later in live. Faith is such an important part of our existence, perhaps even the reason for our existence, that it can never be overlooked when we are reviewing the big picture of our lives. A relationship with God is much like our other relationships. It requires effort and maintenance, with a proactive approach and continued involvement in related activities. Old age isn’t a time to set the spiritual auto pilot, but a season to build upon a lifetime of faith and share our wisdom with others. It’s important that the spiritual matriarchs and patriarchs of any group or family continue to shine the light of example throughout their lives.

So however you may have started, finishing well is perhaps the most important part of life. Wherever we are, whatever we might have done, for better or for worse. We have the option of finishing well, of finishing better. However, the way we finish isn’t a choice we make at some distant point in our existence. Rather, it’s a series of choices that add up to a life well-lived … and maintaining that momentum through the final lap. May yours be such a life so that it continues to touch the lives of countless others.