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Public Comments - Speeches

Memorial Day Address
May 29, 2006

Seven score and three years ago, President Abraham Lincoln dedicated Gettysburg with an unusual, enduring speech.

Most of us remember certain parts of that famous address, but we often fail to remember its original purpose.

He went to memorialize the courage of fallen soldiers; he went to steady the faith of an anxious nation; he went to emphasize the value and necessity of individual sacrifice.

Lincoln traveled from Washington to the site of the battle to deliver a speech commemorating it; ironically he did this believing that words were insufficient instruments for the task before him.

In his brief remarks, Lincoln freely and openly admitted what all of us attending, what all of us speaking, at events such as this know to be truth.

Actions speak; words report.

Lincoln took care to remind his audience that a speech could not add, nor detract, from the courage of the men that had fought and died for something larger than themselves.

There just aren't any words big enough, complete enough, colorful enough—to explain why patriots do what they do: why a pilot flies into a lifting shroud of flak, why a soldier walks into a field of fire, or why a sailor scuttles a ship rather than surrender it.

And yet heroes are born every day.

We remember these acts of courage through ritual; it is through rituals such as Memorial Day that keep our memories alive—these days are vessels that carry the message of sacrifice from one generation to the next.

Lincoln sought to memorialize Gettysburg with a poignant charge: that through such sacrifice a government of the people, by the people, for the people should not perish but prosper—endure.

We, are the heirs of that legacy, as such, must become aware of the blessings bestowed; we must develop a citizenry aware of its obligations to pass on something greater than we were given.

Today, sadly, we are once again engaged in a great war.

Though Afghanistan and Iraq are on our minds—these two theaters of military operation are battles in a larger conflict—one that threatens the foundation of our freedoms.

No, we face a greater threat than any foreign army can ever mount.

This Memorial Day we face a growing crisis of purpose—we are slowly recognizing the symptoms of civil disunion; we live in a time when rabid factionalism and systemic apathy risk unleashing an age of uncertainty about our government, a time when neighbors would rather ignore one another, than engage one another.

This doesn't have to be; we are members of the same community, we belong to the same family.

I ask everyone here today to consider the larger world we live in; I ask us all to celebrate the lives of those which have gone before us—to recognize and accept their personal investments in our future—their last full measure of devotion as a gift we are to cherish and sustain.

Here in the shadow of sacrifice, it is both fitting and proper to look to the Gospel for meaning. John 15:13 reminds us that, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

Let us choose this Memorial Day to remember the sacrifice—to accept the love of all those that made and keep our community safe: to never forget the souls that struggle in the air, on land, and at sea.

Let us choose to acknowledge the service of the men and women that wear our uniform so we don't have to.

Let us choose to honor them with our own devotion to person and place.

Let us choose today, as the day, we rekindle the flame of individual commitment in this community.

The day we all determine how to make every day worthy of the memories of the heroes that made this day possible.