Memorial Day prompts appreciation for liberty

Scott Swanson

I confess that I don’t observe Memorial Day the way it was intended.

I can blame a lot of that on the fact that I operate a newspaper. There really are no holidays, particularly on a Monday, which is the day most weekly newspapers in the United States are being readied for publication.

I also confess that the ideal time to write about Memorial Day would have been in last week’s edition, but what I’m about to say wasn’t ready to be said last week. (That’s also life at a weekly newspaper: You only have one publication a week – of the paper edition, anyway – so timing can be tricky. )

The fact is, though, I’ve spent a lot of time over the past few days – when I wasn’t preoccupied with covering the state high school track championships and getting things ready to go for our annual graduation section – thinking about our country: what we’ve enjoyed in past years, where we are, where we’re going and, most pertinent to Memorial Day, the sacrifices that have gotten us here.

I view the world differently now than I did 10 or 15 years ago. I guess that’s a sign of age, but it’s also a result of lots of changes.

Fifteen years ago, before Sept. 11, 2001, the grim realities that were already part of daily life to much of the rest of the world were seared into our sense of reality here in the United States.

A lot has changed. I’m over 50 now and people are a lot different than they were when I was a kid. Different generations have different values, different interests.

I guess you could label me as one of the tail-end Baby Boomers. If you look at lists that characterize the different generations, mine seems to veer more toward hard work and ambition, while Millenials, as the most recent generational group is called, are more interested in gadgets and relationships.

I don’t mean to imply that’s all bad, although I read constantly that employers have noticed a change in “work ethic” among many of the younger generation. But on the flip side, youngsters have figured out that material goods don’t bring happiness, so they seek it in relationships – friendships, family, teamwork, etc. Of course, I’m painting with a broad brush here, but in general a lot of that is true.

But let me get back to my focus: Memorial Day. Recently, I talked with a friend who lives in Cuba. Obviously, there are changes taking place there, but Cubans don’t have many of the freedoms we take for granted. If I want to buy a house, I can. If I want to go into business, the only things preventing me are my economic situation and my expertise in the area I want to profit from. If I want to go to school, I can go anywhere I can afford to – if I qualify intellectually. If I’m religious, I can engage in that type of activity whenever I want to (within reason), with no fear of the local cops showing up to ask me what I’m doing. If I’m frustrated with government policies, hey, I can voice my opinion – whether or not anyone’s listening – without risking a trip to jail.

Kind of made me appreciate a lot of what we have. Lately, I’ve noticed an increase of concern from letter writers, commentators and a lot of other folks in our community and our nation over what they perceive as a deterioration of the rights we kind of take for granted. I admit it, I’m concerned too.

We pursue our pleasures – sports, entertainment, social media, our jobs, our domestic responsibilities, etc. We are introduced to new ideas, new arguments in the media or from acquaintances that push our envelope a bit and we’re mildly shocked and put off – for a while. Then we cave and decide that maybe world views and morals really are relative – what’s right for you might not be for me, and that’s OK, you know?

Life seems a lot easier when standards are subjective, which is something else the younger generations have figured out.

One of my daughters is winding up a course in history and we’ve had a few discussions of how things used to be and how they are now, and what we should think about all that. Certainly, there have been dark days in the past and we can look at history and see, with our advanced thinking, how ignorant and shortsighted folks were back then was.

I hope it’s evident I’m being sarcastic.

Truth is, we may have a lot of gadgets that our forebears lacked, but that doesn’t necessarily make us wiser. We have our own set of problems that are eerily reminiscent of great civilizations of the past that have become so successful, their inhabitants became preoccupied with pleasure and hedonism and other pastimes that weren’t responsible or productive, that weren’t the values that built their nation.

At the risk of sounding like a pessimistic naysayer, I wonder if we’re blissfully following some of the same paths as they.

Getting back to Memorial Day, after talking with my Cuban friend, I’m significantly more appreciative of the liberties I’ve enjoyed during my lifetime – though I may not have given them much thought.

These are the values and liberties that the men and women we remember on Memorial Day gave their lives to defend.

I pray that when our men and women go out to defend our country today, they will have as clear a sense of purpose as those we remember on Memorial Day.

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