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Time Will Not Dim…Will It?


 

Time will not dim the glory of their deeds. 


Images from Baltimore's Memorial Stadium Documentary, The Fleer Sticker Project

Every Memorial Day I think of this enormous inscription, meant to stand forever. 

From Memorial Stadium - - Time will not dim the glory of their deeds, Byron Bennett:

The stadium was dedicated “As a memorial to all who so valiantly fought and served in the World Wars with eternal gratitude to those who made the ultimate supreme sacrifice to preserve equality and freedom throughout the world.  Time will not dim the glory of their deeds.” The last line is a quote from General John J. Pershing, who was the first chairperson of the American Battle Monuments Commission.

Meant to stand forever. Demolished in 2001.

I wrote the other day about how my parents’ experiences living through World War II cast a long shadow over their children. My own experiences growing up during the Vietnam War were a bleak counterpoint to stories of WWII bravery and patriotism. Because of this juxtaposition, Memorial Day is always a troubling day for me. I hold in my head and heart two opposing thoughts:

1. Deep gratitude for those who were willing to give their lives to protect and sustain democratic ideals and freedom.

2. A sense of grief and guilt that any culture anywhere sacrifices its young because it cannot figure out how to resolve disputes any other way. 

We are grateful. We are blessed. We are guilty. 

On May 23rd Former president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund(LDF) Sherrilyn Ifill delivered the keynote address at the University of Maryland School of Law hooding ceremony. 

Ifill encouraged graduates at this fraught time in our country's history to view the moment as an opportunity. "Nothing you do in the service of democracy is wasted," she said, urging the assemblage to view themselves "not as bystanders but as founders and framers of the America your children will inherit."

Her words both touch me and wound me as I contemplate Memorial Day today. If we are to ask members of our communities to fight and die in the service of democracy, what are we doing to make sure that their deaths will not be in vain? What is our service to democracy?

What in this world could be more useless and tragic than sacrificing your life for an ideal which has been hollowed-out, debased, and sold off for parts? If we do nothing in the face of the current attacks of democracy then we dishonor the memory of all the fallen and the futures of those who are yet to serve.

Nothing you do in the service of democracy is wasted…[you must see yourselves]…not as bystanders but as founders and framers of the America your children will inherit.

Time, alas, may dim our memories of “the glory of their deeds.” Our lives, though, can brighten and rekindle the love for what is worth saving.

Village Green/Town² Comments 


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