Another Memorial Day is upon us. In my little SC town, it’s a rainy, gloomy one so no cook-out today, but I’m so very grateful for the rain!
This will be a shorter post, mostly photos of past Memorial Day remembrances. One photo I wish I’d taken was from yesterday’s service for fallen veterans. Like many such remembrances, it was held in our cemetery. The organizers created a display of local heroes killed during the Vietnam War. Each solder had their own section with their photo, biography, and casualty history. Most of them were in their early twenties, a couple were killed just months of their discharge and return home. All their stories were reminders of why we gather, and a reminder these stories are still being written.
Each year after the program, Hubby and I help place flags at the veterans’ headstones. On one hand it’s a humbling, somber activity, yet on the other it’s inspiring as hundreds of tiny flags unfurl in the breeze and eventually take on the appearance of a large flag waving over the cemetery grounds. In that image is joy and freedom, what I imagine these men and women would want us to celebrate and be grateful for.
Here are some perennial favorites of mine from Letters to Home on the wall in the Ohio Statehouse garden, and from the traveling Eyes of Freedom exhibit. In the life-size portraits of Lima Co., artist Anita Miller captured the eyes and smiles of men proud to serve. I always include pictures of Anita’s Silent Battle sculpture because some of the fallen return home, alive.
A powerful first music video of the Eyes of Freedom, Not Your Scars Alone.
War seems inevitable with the world needing to vent its anger, disharmony, misunderstanding. But is it inevitable?
Yesterday was Pentecost so all our hymns at mass were about the Holy Spirit, with our communion hymn being one of my favorites. But Litany of Peace by Barbara Bridge, had a deeper effect on me on this Memorial Day weekend. The refrain, Make me an instrument of your peace, reminded me it’s not just our soldiers who are commissioned to bring peace. So am I.
If I’m not an instrument of peace within my family, my community, and even in my righteous anger when I head to the voting booth, (or sometimes post online), am I complicit in creating the environment of world venting, that our military is then called to quiet.
Each one-line verse of Litany of Peace is a prayer and a challenge to reflect on how well I’m doing. Unfortunately, since the hymn is copyrighted, I can’t include the lyrics.
But here are two versions of the hymn you can listen to! The first is longer because it includes all the verses, and it’s fuller because it’s sung with a full choir. The second is guitar soloist, Chris Brunelle, singing only the first three verses. (My apologies for any brief opening adds on these videos, which you can quickly skip.)
I hope your weekend was brighter than mine (even though I really am grateful for the rain) and you were able to celebrate the fullness of our freedoms with cookouts and gathering with family and friends. May the spirit of freedom and peace carry us through the week. I’ll be at my window on Monday and I hope you will be too.
A Writer's Window 