"Rest easy shipmates. We have the watch."

Today is Memorial Day in the United States.  Originally known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day is a federal holiday that honors those military personnel who have lost their lives in the line of duty.  While not known for certain, Memorial Day has its origins following the Civil War, when flowers were placed on the graves of fallen soldiers.  Tradition has it that John A. Logan, the third Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, Civil War veteran, and politician from Illinois, first called for a "Decoration Day" in 1868.  While Memorial Day was celebrated on May 30 from 1868 to 1970, the United States Congress standardized the holiday and changed its observance to the last Monday of May in 1971.

As I thought about what to write this year on Memorial Day (please see my previous Memorial Day posts from 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 - see also "Decoration Day, "The Chimes of Freedom", and "The last full measure of devotion" for related posts), I reflected on what an incredible year 2020 was for our country and for our world.  We dealt with more than just COVID-19.  We suffered through war, civil unrest, and oppression.  Our country became more polarized as we witnessed one of the most contentious transitions of presidential power in our nation's history.  We continued to witness the impact of systemic racism in our society.  And we struggled with an epidemic of gun violence that started long before 2020, and a pandemic of mental illness that significantly worsened as we dealt with COVID-19.

I think it is fair to say that freedom was tested in 2020 - and continues to be tested in 2021 - more than it ever has in our nation's relatively short history.  And perhaps that is why I am especially thinking of those who have lost their lives while protecting that freedom today.  How can we best honor the fallen soldiers and sailors of the past?  We can honor them by cherishing the freedom that they purchased with their lives and continuing their fight for freedom.

"Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high." [In Flanders Fields by John McCrae]

"It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.  It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the greatest task remaining before us - taht from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." [The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln]

Ours is a cause worth dying for.  Our work has only just begun.  Our toughest days lie ahead, but we are up to the test.  "Rest easy shipmates.  We have the watch."