Buffeted and Battered, Still Standing
Today is Memorial Day in the United States, a day, described at History.com in this way: Memorial Day is an American holiday, observed on the last Monday of May, honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Memorial Day 2022 will occur on Monday, May 30.
Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971. Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials, holding family gatherings and participating in parades. Unofficially, it marks the beginning of the summer season.
It has come to also be a day for people to stop by cemeteries, pause at loved one’s graves, bring flowers and other remembrances to leave for the warmer months. But it began as a day o honor fallen soldiers who have given all to defend our nation and our freedoms. Over our fairly brief history of 250 years, our nation has been buffeted and battered many times.
In recent decades, the stress and strain on our nation has come from more growing partisanship in politics and polarization in communities on any number of issues. Consider the economy, jobs, the pandemic, systemic racism, gun violence, abortion, and much more. We are doing a number on ourselves and there are many threads in the fabric of our nation now unraveling.
As we took our hike up Barn Bluff on Saturday, this flag, flowing and flapping in the brisk wind, spoke to me. Battered and buffeted, but still standing. This is our nation. Ours. Yours and mine. Let’s do our part to help, not hinder, sew, not rip. Listen with patient compassion to one another’s stories. Prioritize the common goals we have—for opportunities, security of all kinds, and peace for our families and communities. When we get caught up in the rhetoric and virtriol, let’s return to this flag and what it symbolizes, this nation and what is has been built on.
The flag still stands and still means so much. As I composed the lines above, it occurred to me that yesterday marked fourteen years to the day since I received news of my breast cancer diagnosis. Three years ago, my sister Mary Jo was in her final weeks of life, battered by metastatic breast cancer.
I’m still standing, walking, running, living. I have been battered and buffeted in my fifties. My own body and mind taking hits, but also throwing punches—sometimes at myself. As I near 57, I stand firm and healthy overall. Able to do my part. Able to sew more, tear asunder less. Tether more than torment. That goes for me, my body and mind, my family, community, country, world. Able to do my part, I have a responsibility. We all do. Remember that today. If we carry this in our hearts, it will show itself more in our words and actions.
