Monday, May 25, 1998

Take day off, but remember why it's here

As long ago as 1888, a Civil War veterans group got miffed because fewer Americans were visiting the graves of slain soldiers on Memorial Day than were having picnics or going to parades, horse races and the like. President Grover Cleveland particularly took it on the chin. He went fishing.

Today, too, an occasional critic bemoans lost tradition and lost purpose. People forget, it's said, that the day was meant to honor those who died for their country while in the armed services.

Instead, it is noted, the day is a celebration of the coming of summer, part of a three-day weekend when people search out bargains in stores or enjoy themselves in a variety of leisurely pursuits.

In fact, for years and years, the day was a day of rancor, a time when the nation relived the Civil War. The South celebrated Confederate Memorial Day and the north celebrated Decoration Day. Speeches were mainly about the iniquities of the other side.

One lovely story that deserves to be true has it that some gracious Southern women instigated the observance with their own placing of flowers on the graves of Union soldiers, but the tradition, historians have written, was long one of renewing animosities, not only of grateful remembrance.

This business of using Memorial Day to get angry about past battles is essentially behind us now. Is recognizing the ultimate sacrifice of men in uniform also behind us?

While we see nothing wrong with people having a good time on Memorial Day, we also think it crucial to remember these sacrifices, for out of these memories we construct our identity and we build values that have enduring meaning.

If the president wants to go fishing today, that's OK with us. But it's not OK to shirk remembering on a day set aside for remembering.

Recognizing those whose lives were cut short for the benefit of the rest of us is one part of the Memorial Day tradition that should live on.