TRAILS & TALES OUTDOORS JOURNAL for 05/22/09

“Memorial Day Thoughts”

This is a landmark Memorial Day Weekend for my family.

Our youngest daughter, Carolyn, has just recently graduated from college and youngest son, Tony, is graduating tonight from high school. He is the last of our five children to celebrate the completion of his basic education and begin the life of an adult. She has gone further in her educational pursuits than anyone else in the family. All of our children have done well in applying what they’ve learned to make a decent life for themselves.

I don’t know if it is age or the fact that I’ve grown to better appreciate the life that God has given me that makes this even more special than any time in the past.

Years ago, the graduation ceremonies seemed to go on forever. Sitting in the stands of the gymnasium shoulder to shoulder with the gallery of families was uncomfortable and unusually hot.

Oh it was novel to watch for and monitor your youngster as he or she proceeded through the pomp and circumstance of graduation, but what they had accomplished to date in their respective lives seemed somewhat minuscule when placed against the challenges that lay before them.

Today however, I now hang on every speech made and listen intently how those educators that talk, feel about these kids and the passion from which they’ve worked to help them gain a foothold on their future.

I look over the uniform field of caps and gowns wondering how many of these boys and girls will pursue their special interest and make the world a better place than when I stood in their shoes.

Not all will experience the ultimate “American Dream” yet most will experience a quality of life second to none. It will come from living life in the UP and absorbing the heritage of the Yooper. I imagine some of the kids I’m watching don’t feel special for being here, but they will as time moves on and they apply not only what they learned in school, but from being part of this unique culture.

It is a culture of innovation and hard work. Not many feel they have an entitlement to life and know that their success is based on how they apply themselves to gain and achieve success, no matter what field of endeavor.

Some will move away, never to return either by want or need. Others who feel the need to re-locate now, will do so with the ultimate goal of settling back near home where they can enjoy the quality of life that is here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

What I hope they do now is also never forget one of the fundamental reasons they have this opportunity. It comes from those like them that left to serve our military and maintain the freedoms we have today, either as a right or privilege.

It’s hard to fathom they would appreciate that Memorial Day began over one and a third centuries ago when it was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

Being born in 1953, I couldn’t appreciate the significance of our world at war and the role my father and other relatives played in it until the conflicts of my era, especially Vietnam. It was then that a great many of graduating students packed up and shipped out shortly after ceremonies ended. Then they returned from war not so much as heroes, some even hiding the fact that they served in order to fend off ridicule for participating in what some felt illegal military action. It took decades to right the wrong and recognize the sacrifices they made to keep our freedom.

I’m sorry these kids had to realize how cruel this world can be when our country was once again attacked in a most deviant manner on September 11, 2001 and how like in the attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941, our enemies awakened a sleeping giant as we fought back against terrorists.

I hope these kids forever carry with them the pride of being a citizen in the United States of America and use their knowledge to provide new technology that improves life and seems to now be changing at a speed surpassing my comprehension.

I hope that the lives given by those who served, will make these young adults appreciate the world in general and fulfill their obligation to take care of it better than we did, and work to assure the opportunity to enjoy it, especially our natural resources so they remain for the next generation.

Congrats kids, and thank you educators. I especially thank those of you who served in the military and taught all of us the value of freedom.