Memorial Day 2022

 Memorial Day 2022

As a Christian husband and father, I have been remiss in celebrating Memorial Day.  It was a big holiday when I was a little boy, but always full of tension.  Both sides of my family, the Prices and the Reeds celebrated, but the difference in the celebrations was significant.  The Reed boys had mostly served in the Army during WWII and when returning home joined the local veteran clubs, the VFW or the American Legion.  We lived out in the country, the Kingston area, and my dad and other local veterans got together and built their own club, the Kingston Veterans & Sportsman Club.  Dad always took us to the local memorial services.  After the local parade and 21 gun salutes at the cemetery or local memorial, the Reed celebrations were much like you see on beer commercials today; beer, songs, laughter, ball games, and more beer, until the fighting started.  That is usually left out of the commercials.  The next day it was always hard to get back to work.

The Price side of the family was much more religious, attending the small Assembly of God church in Bradenville and did not drink at all, at least the women.  So mom and dad never agreed on attending the family celebrations, regardless of the holiday.  While the Reed celebrations were certainly more exciting, they never seemed to end well.  Memorial Day at the Price family was a much-subdued affair.  Religious is not the same as Christianity, but gets confused.

But I have avoided the conflict, by doing nothing.  Which was not the right course to take.  I should have taken my family to the local celebrations and honored those who served the country during the wars.  I should have been more involved in the politics of my country on many issues.  But this issue also overlaps onto my Christian life.  We celebrate Christmas and Easter and Thanksgiving, but do I do enough to celebrate these special days?  Do I acknowledge God’s grace to us and honor God-like family members who have gone before?  My sister Margie and I were talking about becoming invisible to the following generations in the family.  Should we honor some of our worthy ancestors more than we have?  Do we have any of their photos on our walls?  Do stories of spiritual victories get passed down to our children?  Do we collect them and tell them and retell them, like precious family legends?

My Grandma Price was a prayer warrior, full of the Holy Spirit and communicating with God.  My mother and Cheryl’s Grandma Whitehead were other Godly women.  Dad was in the 752 Armored Division and served for over 400 days at the front lines in Africa and Italy because the USA could not provide tank or soldiers replacements fast enough to make up for the losses to Rommel’s German tanks.  Uncle Charles on Cheryl’s side was in the horrific Bataan March in the Philippines.  Life on this wicked earth is not easy, and we must be aware of those who sacrificed and protected our freedoms, in our country, and in God.