Memorial Day 2023

 

Remember the fallen:

ALMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, in whose hands are the living and the dead; We give thee thanks for all those thy servants who have laid down their lives in the service of our country. Grant to them thy mercy and the light of thy presence, that the good work which thou hast begun in them may be perfected; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord. Amen.

God bless you all,

LSP

Memorial Day Retrospective

 

Forgive this late post, it wasn't from any lack of respect, but I hope you had a blessed Memorial Day. It's right to celebrate with friends and family and at the same time to honor the fallen, see LL's excellent post. May they rest in peace and the wicked be held to account.

That said, we had fun in Dallas, even though the skies opened and it poured with rain. Of course it's sunny now, despite burgeoning inflation. Such is climate change and our Old Enemy, the Weather.

Some don't see Memorial Day like this. They regard it as a moment of white, patriarchal colonialist expansion and want to ban it, just as they'd ban gender itself.

Regardless, I hope you had a blessed Memorial Day and paused, as I know you did, to remember all who gave their lives.

God bless,

LSP

Memorial Day

From the first Memorial Day, then called Decoration Day, address in 1868:

I love to believe that no heroic sacrifice is ever lost; that the characters of men are molded and inspired by what their fathers have done; that treasured up in American souls are all the unconscious influences of the great deeds of the Anglo-Saxon race, from Agincourt to Bunker Hill. It was such an influence that led a young Greek, two thousand years ago, when musing on the battle of Marathon, to exclaim, “the trophies of Miltiades will not let me sleep!” Could these men be silent in 1861; these, whose ancestors had felt the inspiration of battle on every field where civilization had fought in the last thousand years? Read their answer in this green turf. Each for himself gathered up the cherished purposes of life—its aims and ambitions, its dearest affections—and flung all, with life itself, into the scale of battle.

And now consider this silent assembly of the dead. What does it represent? Nay, rather, what does it not represent? It is an epitome of the war.

You can read the whole thing here. Remember those who gave their lives. May they rest in peace and rise in glory.

God bless,

LSP

Memorial Day 2015

Remember the fallen and while you're at it, spare a thought for towns like Itasca, Texas, with a population of around 1,600 people. That's their War Memorial above, with the last marker reserved for the Gulf War and Iraq. I think Afghanistan has been added.

My photo from 2009. I think Afghanistan's been added -- I may be wrong.

There's a lot of names.

If you're not moved and perhaps unsettled by that, there's something badly wrong with you.

May they Rest in Peace,

LSP