Island Impressions: Honoring the Holiday
By Tom Purdy
When I was a kid I didn’t fully appreciate Memorial Day. I liked having a long weekend, but I didn’t think about the holiday with any great depth. I don’t remember what got my attention, but one year it clicked, and I realized that this day off of school and the reason for so many extra sales fliers in the newspaper was because we were honoring and remembering those who have, “laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom,” as Abraham Lincoln once wrote. Perhaps it was my own brother’s service in the Army upon graduation from high school, or when I began to consider service myself; whatever triggered it, I have not taken Memorial Day or the men and women we remember for granted ever since.
One of my first experiences on St. Simons Island, having moved here in the month of May, was to attend the Taps at Twilight Memorial Day commemoration at Neptune Park. Taps at Twilight is an annual observance sponsored by the local Rotary International chapter. Thousands gather on the lawn in front of the amphitheater for patriotic music, prayer, a wreath-laying, and remarks from a prominent military or public figure. It is well done, and quite moving. That first year I remember that it moved me to tears. I also remember the sounds of children during the moments of silence.
Sometimes I experience episodes of early onset grumpy-old-man-ness (EOGOM), and I had a brief spell of EOGOM at that first Taps at Twilight. As the assembled gathering fell into respectful silence to honor the fallen, I was initially annoyed to hear the sounds of children breaking through that silence. If you’re not familiar with the geography at Neptune Park, adjacent to the lawn in front of the amphitheater is a picnic area, with a large playground just beyond that. The noises of young children (the same ages as my own, no doubt), who were screaming and laughing in delight as they chased one another and did what kids do, wafted over the crowd. My first thought was really and truly wonderment about why no one was shushing them.
But very quickly another thought popped into my head; a growing realization of what I was really hearing, and how right it was to be hearing it. My annoyance gave way to an awareness of the gift the music of those children’s voices represented; a juxtaposition of our reverent silence. The sound of children laughing and playing in their total innocence about what the adults were doing just 100 feet away defined the intention behind the sacrifices we were pausing to remember and honor. Men and women who have given their all in service to their country and their countrymen did so, no doubt, to ensure that the next generation in this country could grow up in a country and a world where they could play and shout and laugh. Those children’s voices were both the motivation for and the result of such sacrifices.
In a similar way I’ve relaxed some of my judgmentalism about the plethora of sales on everything from mattresses to trucks on Memorial Day weekend. I used to think it was another example of people taking advantage of or co-opting a holiday for personal gain. For me it used to rank up there with opening stores on Thanksgiving Day. I’ve come to realize, however, that again, when a person makes the ultimate sacrifice, they are sacrificing for the whole of what it means to be American, and that includes buying stuff on sale. If the shopper is aware that their great deal is the result of one more man or woman who didn’t come home alive, then I imagine it’s acceptable to go bargain hunting. I certainly think there is a line that we can cross, but for me the line is now drawn based on whether or not we are actually remembering appropriately on Memorial Day.
I have not served in the military. I am very grateful to those who have served, including my brother, my father, a number of my uncles, and one of my grandfathers. I am very grateful for those who laid down their lives in service. I will be remembering them again this month, hopefully as I watch my own children run and play, the embodiment of the worth of such sacrifice. They are too young to fully appreciate the holiday and its meaning, but one day they too will understand and remember.
