Today is Memorial Day in the United States. When I was growing up, we called it Veteran’s Day and later Decoration Day . In our small Missouri farming community, this was a Signficant Event in the year.
My father and the other World War II veterans would squeeze into their uniforms and lead the parade around the town square, ending at the monument which lists those from our area who have fallen in the service of our country. Someone would give a speech about patriotism and sacrifice, a wreath would be laid by an honor guard, a volley of shots would ring out and the program would always end with the haunting song “Sleep, Soldier Boy“.
As a boy, I was very interested in anything connected to World War II, and to a lesser extent the Korean War. By the time, I was a young man, Vietnam occupied my increasingly confused thoughts about war, duty, and sacrifice. Things were less clear.
After the town square program, our family would visit the small rural cemetery up the road from our home and tend the graves of family and neighbors. The veteran’s graves were easy to find, because each had a small American flag next to it. Everyone’s graves were freshly mown around and neatly trimmed.
This was Memorial Day for me growing up. No big sales at the mall, no community festivals, no family splash-abouts at the local pool. Just a day to remember all those who were no longer with us.
The holiday has changed, as have we all. Growing up, even in a small-town rural environment, is different now. I’m different. The country is different.
I no longer become excited by the stories of war. I have much more respect for the true depth of the sacrifices of those who serve our country,especially now that I am a parent and not as innocent as when I was a younger man. I truly am thankful for those who have worn and those who wear the uniforms of our country and their service.
But I also want peace for them, for my sons and daughters, for their children, and for our country.
In workshops on determining root causes as part of the change process, I have used the following story, which comes from “The Holy Longing: The Search for A Christian Spirituality” by Ronald Rolheiser:
Once upon time there was a town that was built just beyond the bend of a large river. One day some of the children from the town were playing beside the river when they noticed three bodies floating in the water. They ran for help and the townsfolk quickly pulled the bodies out of the river.
One body was dead so they buried it. One was alive, but quite ill, so they put that person into the hospital. The third turned out to be a healthy child, who they then placed with a family who cared for it and who took it to school.
From that day on, every day a number of bodies came floating down the river and, every day, the good people of the town would pull them out and tend to them—taking the sick to hospitals, placing the children with families, and burying those who were dead.
This went on for years; each day brought its quota of bodies, and the townsfolk not only came to expect a number of bodies each day but also worked at developing more elaborate systems for picking them out of the river and tending to them. Some of the townsfolk became quite generous in tending to these bodies and a few extraordinary ones even gave up their jobs so that they could tend to this concern full-time. And the town itself felt a certain healthy pride in its generosity.
However, during all these years and despite all that generosity and effort, nobody thought to go up the river, beyond the bend thathid from their sight what was above them, and find out why, daily, those bodies came floating down the river.
Maybe it’s time for us to go up the river.
In closing, I offer this Memorial Day Prayer for Peace
Remembering and hoping in the Heartland . . .
MAJ John E. Smith, USA, Retired
THE STRATEGIC LEARNER 
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