EDITORIAL: Go enjoy this weekend, but don't forget meaning

May 27—The weekend forecast calls for sunny skies and warm temperatures, perfect weather for the unofficial beginning of summer.

It should be a great time to break out the volleyball net, play a round of golf or maybe spend a little time on a boat or a riverbank with a hook in the water.

Still, let's not forget what Memorial Day weekend is all about. The observance began as Decoration Day in the years immediately after the Civil War.

In 1868, Gen. John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic issued General Order No. 11 setting aside May 30 as a day when the graves of fallen comrades would be strewn with flowers.

During that first observance, Gen. James Garfield spoke at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers who were buried there

As the years passed, many of those gatherings featured a reading of the Gettysburg Address, a speech President Abraham Lincoln delivered at a ceremony dedicating the final resting place for soldiers who died in the Civil War.

"It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this," he said. "But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract."

Lincoln suggested the world would "little note, nor long remember" the words he spoke that day, but those words continue to resonate. Americans must keep working, he said, to ensure "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

So, by all means, let's all take advantage of this long weekend to wash the car, read a book, pick a few weeds out of the garden and burn some hot dogs on the grill.

But somewhere in the midst of all that, let's pause at least briefly to reflect on those remarks Lincoln delivered nearly 160 years ago. Let's remember those who gave the last full measure of devotion in the Civil War and in all of this nation's wars before or since.

Our 16th president's words seem particularly relevant today, at a time when that government by and for the people seems under threat.

Let's answer Lincoln's call and dedicate ourselves to making sure those who lost their lives in defense of our country did not die in vain. At the very least, we owe them that.