Memorial Day has become a day of cross currents. This is strikingly true in this year of Pandemic.This is America's official day of both honor and grief for the military personnel who have died while serving in the armed forces. It holds within it's history, the grateful awe of self-sacrifice and the sad tragedy of war. As perhaps a collective defense against these intense, and really ancient emotions, American culture has produced a counter holiday of summer celebration. Each year brings its own variation of the choppy waves of demands and desires. We want the freedom to revel outdoors in a three day holiday weekend in spring as it just hints of summer, we want to recognize heroes--our heroes--and draw courage from them, we want peace but we want to blame, we want to remember and we want to forget. And so in the face of new, unimaginable losses from a devastating Pandemic, we are left with more conflict and division on Memorial Day.
My intent is to spotlight the undercurrents of the day and the past weekend to simply encourage you in the traditional moment of silence. The moment of silence has evolved in our culture as our baby steps in acknowledging personal reflection. It is used in memorials and in times of communal support to give each individual the space, the freedom, to turn within their own minds and heart--to feel, to remember, and to express silently, as thought or prayer, the focus of the time. It can be a powerful public practice. While leaders and speakers can inspire and direct through speeches as part of the program of community events, the silence allows everyone's contribution. That silent space affirms the significance of the individual within the whole--as a point of relationship, as a contributor to collective memory, and as a witness to life.
This is not the same as your daily meditation practice. It is the moment dedicated to offering your silence in the collective with recognition of our diverse meanings and values and varying frameworks of thought, riding all the choppy waves. We have our personal memories and meaning and visions of the future. We are witnesses. We add our inner voice. (Susan Nettleton)