Thank You for Your Service
Atlanta, GA
May 29, 2018
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
– Matthew 5:4
On this 150th Memorial Day we decorate the graves, commemorate the dead, and contemplate the stupendous waste in lives and treasure that a century-and-a-half of aggressive foreign intervention has wrought.
Since Appomattox, wars deprived over half a million Americans the opportunity to pursue their dreams, meet their wives, father their families, and leave their mark.
Among them and their forgone descendants, how many potential Michelangelos and Mozarts, Aristotles and Aquinases, Archimedes and Newtons, Leonardos and Lockes, Gutenbergs and Jobs, Shakespeares and Sophocles were unable to adorn posterity with their sublimity of art, subtlety of thought, or superiority of invention?
As with Veterans Day, and even Independence Day, what was once “Decoration Day” has devolved into a compulsory glorification of all things associated with the armed branches of the U.S. State.
Of course, most other days of the year are little different.
Sporting events routinely (almost anesthetizingly) feature anthems, fly-overs, camouflage uniforms, and flags the size of Saskatchewan. Airlines provide priority seating, restaurants supply special discounts, and bars accept no martial money.
To avert ostracism, all must stand, applaud, or salute any mention of military men or mission, regardless how delusional, deranged, or detrimental.
Got a problem with that? What…you’d prefer to be speaking German, eating Borscht, worshipping Allah, or weaving Persian rugs?
Of course, no one should deny the right or propriety of private organizations to determine how and to whom they offer benefits.
And we certainly do not begrudge appreciation for those in the armed services who died earning it.
But why, particularly given the astounding achievements of untold and innumerable “civilians”, does the military demand such disproportionate gratitude for “service”?
What of those who enhance life rather than take it, who create rather than destroy, who exchange rather than impose? Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. Blessed are the winemakers, for they are pourin’ spirits.
What of days, seats, or discounts set aside to acknowledge the peaceful pursuits…deeds great and small that sustain and improve lives, without aggressively invading or surreptitiously overthrowing any portion or persons of another man’s land?
The practitioners of dentistry spring to mind any time I become wistful for centuries past.
I am typing on a device the size of a playing card, but with the power of an Apollo mission. This warrants ample servings of gratitude (no doubt with a side of apprehension for those on the receiving end).
Since and prior to living in San Francisco, I could not be more appreciative of the enablers of reliable air conditioning. Those in Tampa or Washington, DC could elaborate.
All hail the authors and publishers of our books, the fashioners and fabricators of our clothes, the harvesters, herders, and handlers of our food…delivering many of these necessities or delights almost daily to our front door.
Few services compel as much thanks as that.
One that does was provided by several doctors in many cities, who for years strengthened our son’s occupational, visual, and social capabilities. For that we cannot offer enough appreciation.
I commute a couple times each month from my home in Atlanta to my office in St Louis, and could not fit a round of golf into the time between walking out one door and into the other.
Some people take longer to cook a Thanksgiving turkey than it used to take me to get to Paris every third week.
Heck…we could fly to Sydney in the time it took Thomas Jefferson to take the express from Philadelphia to Baltimore. I presume he would join me recognizing those who made, and make, these miracles of transportation possible.
Provisioners of electricity, clean water, indoor plumbing, penicillin: merci beaucoup…not only for life-sustaining service, but for supplying these extremely modern amenities with such reliability that I could take them for granted by not mentioning them first.
Corporate philanthropists, cardiovascular surgeons, financial planners, travel agents, talent agents, winemakers, lobbyists, lawyers, niche product entrepreneurs, management consultants…all deserve a special tip of the cap.
Thank you for your service.
To those who lie in the Meuse-Argonne Cemetery, who rest in the soil above Omaha Beach, who are entombed in the USS Arizona, who fell at Heartbreak Ridge, whose names are inscribed on the Vietnam Memorial, or who are honored in absentia at Arlington with too many other unknown soldiers…
Requiesce in pace.
JD
