Reprinted...

from Carolyn Baker (Truth to Power)

A TIME TO REMEMBER: MEMORIAL DAY, 2009, By Carolyn Baker

Sunday, 24 May 2009

[I apologize for the inconsistency of fonts in this posting. The
email list program is giving me hassles with formatting that I
haven't yet resolved.--CB]

Many years ago when I was a child, this holiday was not called
Memorial Day, but rather, Decoration Day, owing to the standard
practice of families visiting cemeteries to place flowers not only on
the graves of fallen heroes, but on all the graves of the dearly
departed. Since that time, the culture has chosen to emphasize
remembering the war dead in our celebration of this holiday, but
today, I would like to enlarge our perspective on its meaning and
bring it closer to home for each of us.

Indeed Memorial Day has been designated as a time to remember those
men and women who paid the supreme sacrifice, ostensibly for
"freedom" and pay them tribute. However, as any reader of this
article knows, the memory of an adolescent culture is extremely
selective. Americans love pleasant memories and the myths they can
make around their heroes-Washington crossing the Delaware, Lee
surrendering to Grant, MacArthur's "Old Soldiers" speech, the Iwo
Jima Monument, pilots with the "right stuff", Stormin' Norman
Swartzkopf, and of course, the magical, mythical Colin Powell.

Conversely, they have little interest in the real truth of the
American Empire's conquests from the arrival of Columbus to the
present moment. The realities of Native American genocide, nearly
three centuries of slavery in North America, all of the unanswered
questions surrounding the sinking of the Battleship Maine which
touched off the Spanish American War, the evidence pointing to
foreknowledge of the Pearl Harbor attacks, the Pentagon Papers, the
My Lai massacre (in which Colin Powell
was deeply involved), and of course, the empire's diabolical role in
9/11, the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars-all of those are relegated to that
which we have "put behind" us. We will not remember those on Memorial
Day because that day is reserved for the preservation of the myths
and fantasies we choose to enshrine in abhorrence of the full,
unmitigated veracity of our history.

What we have created in the form of Memorial Day is nothing more
than a sentimentality fest-that is, a hypocritical pseudo-ritual, a
pretense of remembering. Orgies of parades and flag-flying spare us
from facing the truth that when our military veterans who are
fortunate enough to return to us from combat and do so with
devastated minds and bodies, we have colluded with our government in
abandoning them. We have done so first, by allowing the madness of
imperial wars to continue and then by turning our heads-as does our
government, from the treatment they so desperately need to become
something approximating whole human beings. We have demanded the
supreme sacrifice from countless men and women of color and from the
working class, but we have refused to atone for that evil by ending
the carnage and doing whatever it takes to mend their obliterated
bodies and minds.

But while I do not wish to join the American consensus in ignoring
its deeper history, I would like to broaden our perspective in this
moment of the irrefutable, irrevocable collapse of empire. In fact,
collapse dictates that we must remember many things besides all of
that which got us to this juncture in history. In a time of
unprecedented economic unraveling, it may serve us well to remember
happier moments in our lives when we experienced invaluable treasures
at little or no cost.

For example, I recall childhood memories of picking fruit with my
grandmother and finding refuge from the world on top of my parents'
garage which was covered and held with thick branches of surrounding
maple trees. I used to lie there for hours listening to the wind
rustle through the leaves, ensconsed in the solitude and safety of
the natural world around me. Baseball games and kick-the-can
extravaganzas with neighborhood playmates on summer days that we
thought would never end remain in my memory as some of the most
magical moments of childhood. None of these adventures required
spending any money, but all of them I revere today as priceless.

Additionally, there were the stories in my youth told to me by
elders-stories of their own lives and of those of their neighbors and
friends. And of course, there were countless stories of the Great
Depression and the lives I saw my ancestors living as a result of it.
There were always huge gardens in the summer, endless quantities of
fresh food, the canning and preserving of food at harvest time, and
diligent, unremitting thrift and conservation of everything in their
lives. How I wish I had paid more attention-how I wish I had not
merely passively watched their activities but asked to be taught
their skills. They did not invite me to do so not only because I had
no interest, but because everyone around me assumed that I'd never
need to know. Naturally, there would never be another Great
Depression. It was the fifties, and gas was 25 cents a gallon.
Because I was a budding boomer, everyone knew that when I grew up,
I'd have no need to grow a garden or can fruits and vegetables. I'd
always have what I needed, when I needed it, particularly after I got
some dream job which a college degree would most certainly guarantee
me.

And so on this day of remembering, I recall my heritage and the
parts of it I need to remember that can serve me well as collapse
unfolds.

As readers of Truth to Power's Daily News Digest know from this
morning's emailing, today is the 100th birthday of one of Vermont's
most cherished citizens, Marion Leonard, whom I interviewed

for the website in 2007. On this weekend, I remember the life of
Marion and what she has given everyone who has been touched by her
life. She's fond of reminding folks that she's a friend of geologian,
Thomas Berry, and even fonder of reminding us that she's five years
older than he is. Repeatedly, she refers to his book The Great Work,
and emphasizes that the Great Work is her life's purpose and mission
and that whatever else we feel called to do in our lives, we must
share a similar vision if we and the earth are to survive and thrive.

You may wonder what a "geologian" is. Berry, who has been a priest
all of his adult life, defines it as someone who studies and
appreciates the expression of the divine in the earth community. He
reminds us in all of his writings that we are the earth, and the
earth is us.

As I contemplate the deeper meaning of a day of remembrance on this
Memorial Day weekend, nothing for me is more important to remember
than this reality. That we are the earth, and the earth is us, is the
consummate, primal truth that has been forgotten by the human species.
We have absolutely no possibility of tempering or minimizing the
devastation of civilization's collapse if we do not regain this
memory and live it every day for the rest of our lives.

I invite you to take a few moments to deeply engage with Thomas
Berry's words on this video clip
"Thomas Berry And The Earth Community". Please turn up your speakers
and perhaps grab some tissue. This is powerful, poignant, and oh so
beautiful. Please join me in savoring it.

It's time to remember, dear reader-time to remember who we are and
why, despite all we have been told to the contrary, why we are here.
If we remember and live every day as if we do, we have the
opportunity to extract from the sea change of collapse, every drop of
meaning it holds for us, and what now appears as endless loss could
ultimately result in inestimable reward. Just who is it you want to
be in the face of civilization's collapse?

Last Updated ( Sunday, 24 May 2009 )