As an intensely schedule-oriented person, I really don’t like holidays. They bollix everything up.
Holidays like Memorial Day are even more uncomfortable. On the one hand, it makes complete sense to honor those who have given their lives for their country. That’s been going on for a very long time indeed. Pericles, the ancient Athenian general, said that dying for his country was a man’s best moment.
But there’s the rub. As a historian, you’re quickly forced out of a U.S.-centric world view. You know that modern America isn’t the only entity to have brave men and women serving it. There have been fallen soldiers in every location, in every era, for all of recorded history. It’s about the fact that war seems to be a human constant, no matter what anyone wants to believe. And about the fact that, we presume, any one of those fallen soldiers (or at least the generals sending them out) thought that there was a cause worth dying for. Yet, so often, history judges their actions in a less-than-favorable light. Or the judgment depends on which side is writing it. That kind of thing.
Which is why holidays like this depress me. Contemplating the continuity of human violence and the relativism of justification? It just doesn’t put me in the mood to grill and drink beer. Which is not to say I won’t raise a glass to the fallen — I’ll just do with an appropriate sense of historical melancholy.
WPE,
Just found your blog recently, so I’m getting caught up with older ones. As a retired soldier, independent scholar looking for a community college slot for my retirement gig, I’ll correct you a bit on this entry: Politicians send soldiers out, not generals. Generals are just soldiers required to look at the “big picture” rather than through a weapon’s sights.
Also, if you ask most combat veterans you’ll find that they respect their opponents more than their fellow citizen who managed to avoid service.
You’ll also find that former soldiers share your sense of melancholy as they raise a glass to absent comrades, even as they’re surrounded by friends, family, and smoke from the grill.
Hi Tim,
Thanks for commenting – and man, you must be persistent, making it all the way back to this one. And thanks for your insight; I guess I was thinking of the ancient model, where there was less of divide between soldiers and politicians, so there was some autonomy in leadership — though you’re right, ultimately it was the people or a king that made the choice to go to war/send troops etc.