An Enduring Legacy
Everyone wants to leave a legacy and Memorial Day reminds us of “the last full measure” of that promise. Whether we realize it or not, there is something to be done in this life and we hope to leave the world with a deeper understanding of what life means. In scripture Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13. Jesus did just that and left the legacy of dying in the name of love – even for those who didn’t feel worthy of this love.
I’ve been watching reels of veterans talking about their experiences in wars. The stories shared in these interviews are nothing less than harrowing and gut wrenching. You hear humankind’s greatest inhumanity and atrocities being committed in the name of fear.
Veterans who were sailors on ships during WW2 described the wreckage; the unqualified expression of hell and catastrophe, living with and smelling the “stench of death in their clothes.” Climbing rope ladders you weren’t trained to undertake and learning on the job as you see friends’ dead bodies floating in the water.
I’ve heard stories about bomber pilots in the Ardennes and the electric suits failing to keep them warm as they sat in the open air of a gunner’s hatch in minus 45 degree temperatures and the frost bite that set in. A bomber remarks, “The suits to keep us warm were like Christmas tree bulbs. One went out and the whole suit failed…. It was nothing like the frost bite I experienced as a prisoner of war, though.”
Vincent Speranza recalls grotesque images of soldiers being blown apart, “Tanks winding up” … “a world exploding,” “tanks firing point blank into foxholes,” barrages of jarring chaos splitting time and space in two…. Soldiers “cursing themselves for not digging deeper trenches,” the ground shaking beneath them so hard that it causes heads to rattle in helmets and soldiers are told to not tighten their chin straps as it could cause concussions or cause your head to literally come off…. Infantry hand to hand fighting. “The white snow turning red.”
On the lighter side of things, the old soldier helped his friend and other wounded toast to victory. A story for the ages, it became a story of hope for survival, and inspiration for better days when he made a beer run to a local tavern and, seeing no glasses in sight, filled his helmet. To this day, they created a Belgium beer in his honor served in a glass helmet, “Airborne.”
Europeans have never forgotten, re-enacting the war, celebrating heroes. Vincent’s story is one of many treasured myths that mark the landscape of sacrifice.
There was another story an old veteran told where his platoon friend “Schmitty” made him promise that if he made it out alive and Schmitty didn’t that his buddy would tell Schmitty’s parents what happened. After finally agreeing to do it, they hit that battlefield and Schmitty died on the first volley. The infantryman had to step over him to keep pushing forward.
In some you hear the survivor’s guilt and the heavy obligation of making something of his life in the name of honoring the memory of sacrifice. You hear the shock and tremors as he relives the nightmare for the sake of bearing witness to stop such indecency and indifference and to call out injustices to prevent this from happening again. An enduring legacy.
Those memories mentioned above are being compromised, lost or forgotten. One of the last Auschwitz survivors, Naftali Furst, is telling his story far and wide. He’s reminding school children of what happened and tells them, “You have an obligation to share my story because you’ve met living history.”
He states he’s afraid people have forgotten what happened there at Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Judging from recent events, he has cause to worry.
The banning of books like Elie Wiesel’s “Night,” Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird,” Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” and Khalid Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner” is problematic. Books that speak truth about the human experience and deliver unsettling feelings about topics like racism, sexism, ageism, war and religious intolerance banned in school districts. The very books that identify our historic identity and the fight to overcome oppression and tell the true story of history.
On top of this, there is the undermining of law that is happening in this country. We have a president who does not know if it’s his obligation to uphold the Constitution. There are enablers undermining the democratic process and law.
The suspension of “habeaus corpus,” the fundamental right of people to a trial. Sec. Kristi Noem, the Secretary of Homeland Security, has no idea of the meaning and was challenged by members of Congress. The assault on the rights of people, people being sent to Salvadoran prisons and expelled from this country when they have a right to be here or at least a right to a trial.
There is an abandonment of our NATO allies while our president allows despots like Putin to have his way with Eastern Europe. In the meantime, Trump makes deals with the UAE who is selling weapons to a government enabling genocide in Sudan. Authoritarian measures and fear-mongering put forth by this administration is right out of the fascist playbook.
Trump accepts a 400 million dollar plane from a Saudi Government that funded Hamas. Any other official would be brought up on charges of corruption. See Sen Bob Menendez.
There is the bullying Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelynsky in the Oval Office and undermining his position against Putin. Repeating his behavior with President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa falsely claiming there is a “white genocide,” happening there and perpetuating propaganda sold by the far right. One of the pictures displayed by Trump was from the war in the Congo.
Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley was threatened by Trump and stripped of security detail along with former President Joe Biden. General Milley who was appointed by Trump as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said to Bob Woodward, “He (Trump) is the most dangerous person ever. I had suspicions when I talked to you about his mental decline and so forth, but now I realize he’s a total fascist. He is now the most dangerous person to this country.” Trump said “In times gone by this would call for his death” after the general “de-escalated a problem” with China as a result of January 6th.
The list goes on as Trump tries to make the lies seem true and edit or re-write the script of history. He recently paid out five million dollars from tax payers’ money to the family of Ashley Babbitt for wrongful death as she tried to overtake the House Chamber during the January 6th riot, a riot Trump incited in the name of saving face in light of an election loss.
Trump’s crypto company is making deals and he’s entertaining bitcoin reps in the White House, selling priviledge to the highest bidder. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Bill Gates estimates, “The cuts from Elon Musk and DOGE will cause the deaths of over a million children” as a result of the cuts to foreign aid. Meanwhile, Trump establishes legislation with a “big beautiful bill” that will end up in the pockets of the richest. An enduring legacy.
Trump called veterans “suckers and losers.” He called Sen. John McCain “a loser for being captured” and becoming a prisoner of war during Vietnam. General John Kelly documented standing at the grave his son and Trump stated, “I just don’t see how you can do that – give your life for something like that. It doesn’t make sense.” That same man is compromising benefits for veterans. He can’t make sense of supporting those most vulnerable. He just can’t bring himself to do it.
Trump wants a parade on his birthday, June 14th. The cost of this is between 25 and 45 million dollars. Another example of a megalomaniac’s need for attention while the economy continues to struggle due to his tariff war and he slashes aid to education, health and public assistance. I hope history is truly watching.
There are two kinds of people here. Those who give of themselves and those who take for themselves. Trump is the later. What an enduring legacy.
spirit beat 