Commemorating what we Shouldn’t Forget

The 9/11 memorial at Harry Dunham Park (Photo/R. Bergeron)

During his recent visit to the nation’s Capital, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu impressed me a great deal.  There is in this man a core of stability, determination, consistency and integrity which cannot be ignored. 

The U.S. Congress, it seems, must share similar sentiments because, in a joint meeting of the House and Senate this week, he united Democrats and Republicans, as, on one point after another, they rose from their seats and enthusiastically punctuated his statements with applause and admiration – a gesture seldom expressed by that group with such frequency, especially for a visiting foreign dignitary.

I couldn’t listen to Netanyahu’s address without noting the unpretentiousness with which he speaks, and with the forcefulness by which he underscores his laser-like intent, which is to preserve the continued existence of Israel.

 What impresses me the most is that the man’s admiration and love for the United States is second only to that of his own country.

Netanyahu values this inscription at Korean Memorial.  (Photo/R. Bergeron)

During a subsequent TV interview, he explained how, before his address to the Congress, he had walked and paused among our Capital's monuments, those stone and marble symbols dedicated to our founders and to U.S. military service men and women who, since the early decades of our republic, have served so valiantly to preserve our vast, yet fragile democracy which we so often take for granted.

I relate personally and deeply to both of Netanyahu’s points of emphasis on this Memorial Day weekend:  His love of the U.S., and, especially, his understanding of the meaning of Washington’s monuments along the Potomac which, without a proper grasp of what they signify, risks becoming attractive, yet meaningless carvings.

Along his stroll among these deeply evocative commemorative symbols of America’s very soul, Netanyahu mentioned several:  the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the stark statues of American soldiers wading miserably through the rice paddies of Korea in their rain ponchos.

Americans slogging through rice paddies in Korea. (Photo/R.Bergeron)

I’ve been privileged to visit the same sites many times and I never grow weary of the thought they evoke in me each time; namely, that the most clear and present danger that we could face as a country is that we should ever forget what caused those monuments to be erected along the Potomac’s Tidal Basin in the first place..

An enormous price in American lives has been extracted as the result of political decisions leading to warfare, some necessary for the survival of U.S. democracy; others deeply flawed.  Historian Barbara Tuchman describes wars entered into injudiciously as being part of “The March of Folly.”

Either way, the lives of our best men and women evaporate in the fog of war – something to think about before our government sends them off again in an ill-defined military campaign.

Enjoy your family and friends this weekend, as well as all of the festivities that go along with Memorial Day commemorations.  Also consider taking some time, however brief it may be, to ponder its meaning – and, perhaps, even to share that meaning in an age-appropriate fashion with your children.  Thanks for reading.

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