Opinion: Stop for a Moment of Remembrance at 3 p.m. on Memorial Day
The tourists and summer residents will have arrived. The beach stickers will be needed, and the propane tanks will roar. But Monday will evoke other kinds of tanks, as Memorial Day will be celebrated. But we may need to make an effort to keep the day relevant, especially to younger Americans.
Back in 2000, groups and individuals began a new tradition, asking all Americans to observe a National Moment of Remembrance. According to No Greater Love, a Washington-based nonprofit, there was concern that we were losing touch with the origins and significance of Memorial Day, above and beyond the start of summer and beach season.
In May 1996, the idea of the Moment of Remembrance was born when children touring Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C., were asked what Memorial Day meant and they responded, "That's the day the pools open!" That following year, on Memorial Day in 1997, "Taps" was played at 3 p.m. in many locations and at events throughout America. The effort was repeated again in 1998 and 1999. It was intended to create a solemn annual moment, not unlike the national silence in Britain at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, to commemorate the ceasefire of the Great War (World War I) in 1917.
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But the War Between the States was our Great War — 620,000 soldiers and sailors on both sides died in the Civil War. From the beginning, there was a built-in effort at reconciliation, beginning with Confederate women putting flowers on the graves of Union soldiers. The first formal Decoration Day was on May 30, 1868, when Gen. James Garfield spoke at Arlington National Cemetery. The day was deliberately chosen, as it was not the anniversary of any great battle or victory for either side. Over 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Civil War soldiers from both armies buried there.
From the beginning, the purpose of Memorial Day was to remind us of the importance of actively remembering those who died fighting for our freedoms. It is different from Veterans Day (Nov. 11). It is always a fine thing to thank veterans for their service and for protecting us, but Memorial Day is more solemn as it is dedicated not only to those who served but to those who died while doing so.
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The National Moment of Remembrance is meant to provide a moment, national and international for all Americans, to join in a symbolic act of unity. Three p.m. was chosen because “it is a time of day when most Americans are likely making the most of the freedoms we enjoy.” Perhaps we enjoy them a little too much. The true anniversary of the first Decoration Day was lost when the celebration became a Monday holiday in 1971, the same way the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday was or when George Washington’s birthday became Presidents Day, yet another Monday holiday.
We bemoan the loss of cohesive national unity and purpose, while simultaneously expecting to have ceremonies celebrating that ideal to be more conveniently and easily celebrated, without any real inconvenience to ourselves or to our schedules. The rancor, tension, and simmering anger in our country approach that of the Reconstruction era when our armed fighting was over but our legal and commercial fighting was just beginning. Our institutions are under attack, while they also attack one another.
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But maybe we can do just this.
At 3 p.m. on Memorial Day, where ever you are, take the time to hum the tune called, “Taps”. It isn’t long, and you may also know the words: “Day is done/ Gone the sun/ From the lake/ From the hill/ From the sky/ All is well/ Safely rest/ God is nigh.”
And maybe a second verse, too: “Go to sleep/ Peaceful sleep/ May the soldier/ Or sailor God keep/ On the land/ Or the deep/ safe in sleep.”
Remember on Memorial Day.
Cynthia Stead is a columnist for the Cape Cod Times and can be contacted at cestead@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape Cod: On Memorial Day observe a Moment of Remembrance at 3 p.m.
