But this year is different. This year we are all too aware of senseless death, loss and grief. Almost a hundred thousand of our brothers and sisters lost, many unnecessarily. I read that this number is more than all those killed in every war our country has fought. Can that be true?
And so our thoughts turn to the reason for Memorial Day: founded to commemorate those lost in the Civil War--as senseless a loss of life as there ever was. All wars are horrible. Most are for the wrong reasons. But a civil war--brother against brother--is the worst kind. And it is still having repercussions today, isn’t it? How many Confederate flags are flying recently? It must be the only war in which the losing side has never admitted defeat. It still divides our nation after one and a half centuries.Was it necessary? Abraham Lincoln thought there was no alternative. Slaves were freed. Some good came of it. But at what price?
And every war since, except for WWII, which I think everyone believes was necessary and just, has been colored in shades of gray. Were we right to go into Korea? Vietnam? Iraq? For each there were justifications at the time, especially among politicians, but weighed against the cost of human life?
So this Memorial Day is a perfect time for reflection. Let us think of those rows of headstones in Arlington National Cemetery, each one representing a mother or a sweetheart who stood, weeping, and found themselves wondering what their loved one had been fighting for.
And on this particular Memorial Day, one we will never forget, let us remind ourselves that every life is precious and each one of those souls lost to this virus is a loss to our country and to humanity.
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Amen.
DEBORAH CROMBIE: Perfectly and eloquently said, Rhys.
HALLIE EPHRON: Exactly.
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Poignant and true. Thank you, Rhys.
