A Reminder on this Memorial Day

Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Winslow Homer’s painting The Veteran in a New Field is a moving reminder of the meaning of this day. Homer evokes the promise of the future for this lone Civil War veteran as well as a stark reminder—in the symbolism of his scythe’s precise movement and freshly cut stalks—of the sacrifice paid by his comrades on countless battlefields.

The painting calls to mind this timeless passage from Isaiah 2:4: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares; and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

It is an aspiration that we have unfortunately fallen short of far too many times.

Most of us, on this day, occupy a space that straddles the past and the present. We enjoy an extra day off with family and friends around a barbecue at the beginning of another summer season.

Very few of us will take time out of our day to visit a cemetery and pay your respects at the grave of a fallen soldier.

Make sure to take a few minutes today to remember the men and women “who have given the last full measure of devotion” so “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”