Memorials refer to the past – for the future. They appear in most contexts of life. Their purposes are several, but generally to remembrances of the contributions, the braveries, the sacrifices, of those who have gone before us – near or far from our present, and especially if the cause included martyrdom. They touch us to tears and cheers. They suggest better parts of our own lives for improved performance. There is admiration, regard, achievement and honor. So the world is dotted with statues of generals on horseback, statesmen in frock coats and a lifted hand, even a baseball player holding a bat or glove. Israel raised a pile of stones. Many have a logo or coat of arms. Christians use the Cross. Openings for this bent to honor heroes are many. We name streets for them, or stations and airports. Honors are now designed to represent closer relationships with current generations and include lesser lights, even groups, who have made sacrifices of their lives. We pause for moments of memory in their honor, and our inspiration. We want our respect to be underlined. Many towns now have a Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue. It can’t be even Martin King. It must be Martin Luther King, Jr. It isn’t Kennedy Airport. It must be John F. Kennedy Airport or Center, not what was once Idylwild International Airport, and Cape Canaveral Space Center. There is a sacrifice of some beautiful names for new ones. The new ones are nearly all attached to persons. We gain something of self-currency in this. The shift is an accent of younger generations.
Without reducing in any way our respect for these heroic persons and events, we ought quickly to turn to current social conducts for a vision of memorial stones for society. What do we find in the social fabric that suggests the future of society – of holocaust or blessing? Where will we be admired or forgotten – or blamed? Statistics that we might call the stones of currency recently informed us that in 1950 the number of homes identified as married households was 78% of all homes. Even then there was some concern about a trend away from past solidarity represented in some decline from the century turn from 1900 A.D. Today, in 2011, the number is 49%, the lowest ever. The factoid announced in the news for this date, was given in ominous tone, and a matter for concern – the percentage is declining when the basic stone of society is the family of mother, father and child. That includes a number of factors affected in increasing decline of traditional marriage and the family. The increase of man and woman living together without marriage is taken as dramatic and threatening, with the implication that there will be lost family life, needed child nurture and the context of whole family in later life. There was little seen on the horizon that would adequately substitute for family meaning. This in turn put family care of members to the state, and the state is now in the throes of pain on how to fund the monumental burden formerly carried by families – in the education, retirement, medical and other needs for all citizens. There are other problems to address related to breakdown, but the present list alone, taken together with the necessary enlargement of administration of government to manage life, according to some prognosticators, will be more expensive than all income that the government receives through high taxes currently levied – with more to come.
Even greater will be the loss of balance and emotional satisfaction with life. One of the evidences of the basic human need is found in the stories of persons in war. Their relief was in the letters they wrote, especially to wives/husbands and parents/children, of excruciating desire to be home with their families. A special TV program for this year’s Memorial Day, 2011, from The American Experience, accented, through many wars, the heart yearning of soldiers for family and home. It is clear from the analyst that some old values are being lost, or diluted. Surely they are not lost for the individual that knows the cherishing of that first institution that God gave in family, meant to be a loving solidarity of blood related persons. It is quite able to survive any enemy forces from within, and teach the blessing of one of God’s love gifts to mankind. It may be that there will be a period of monumental loss and failure, but it is almost beyond belief that the human race would sacrifice the joy, strength, security, love, and ongoing life found in the well-adjusted family committed to carrying out the divine command for successful relations for a satisfying and fulfilling life in God and nature. I thank God for the gift of family. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020