The United States honors its armed services personnel on the anniversary of the close of World War I, November 11, now called Veterans’ Day. This year, I attended the ceremony in the amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetery hosted by the Veteran Affairs office of the federal government.
Before arriving at the amphitheater, my friend, Afton, and I visited a soldier resting in the Afghanistan War section; a man who her close friend misses deeply. As we laid the yellow and red bouquet of roses before the white headstone, we reflected on the resurrection and the eternal course of our lives. She told me that last Easter Sunday she came to Arlington for much of the afternoon, bringing devotional addresses that taught of the Savior’s many roles. I thought it was the perfect place to be on that sacred day. (I made a mental note to copy her every move next Easter.) When contemplating our mortality and its brevity, Christ‘s responsibility as the first fruits of the resurrection seems to me the most important.
Afton later visited the Vietnam Memorial in remembrance of her mother’s cousin.
Many of my peers at Georgetown are highly suspicious of patriotic expression, which leaves me much of the time playing my intense American nationalism close to the vest. In this environment, I frequently question this aspect of myself so that I’m not a blind follower of stupid ideas delivered in the form of propaganda. At the conclusion of these frequent reassessments, I always resettle on the side that America is worthy of my devotion. I don’t love America just because my family and friends live here, I love it as a nation state. I willingly offer my loyalty to a nation founded on the idea that humans have an inherent desire for freedom and as that liberty is ordered by self government, its people enjoy the greatest amount of peace and protection of their rights (that are also inherent). Isn’t that a beautiful idea?
I was proud that day. I was proud of so many people willing to risk their lives because of commitment to that idea. And I was proud of President Obama who called the post-9/11 veterans a “great generation.” There’s a sense, it seems to me, in the current political landscape that the veterans of WWII were the last great generation. Theirs was a clean fight between good and evil when subsequent “conflicts” are mired in partisan bickering. I say, if the commander-in-chief of the US armed forces decides to send in troops and they respond to the call, they deserve the nation’s respect and appreciation, regardless of policy issues of the conflict. Their responsibility is to fight and win our nation’s wars, not decide whether to enter the theater. They deserve respect and appreciation, regardless of policy issues of the conflict, for fulfilling their constitutional responsibilities.
President Obama received the most rousing applause of his address when he announced that soldiers would be coming home. In that moment I realized it was true that no one wants peace more than a solider and a solder’s family; respect and appreciation, regardless of policy issues of the conflict.
The most moving message for me came not from the commander-in-chief, but from the U.S. Army Band’s Pershing’s Own singing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” In their smooth and pure male tones, they sang,
“Jesus died to make men holy, let us die to make men free.”
This phrase caught me because in the Latter-day Saint hymn book the words are,
“Jesus died to make men holy, let us live to make men free,”
and I’ve often reflected on those words and my responsibility to live in demonstration of the freedom that comes through Christ Jesus. Being at Arlington on Veterans’ Day, hearing this rendition, forever changed this song for me. As I seek to live to make men and women free from sin through Jesus Christ, I feel deep gratitude for those willing to die for freedom.
May their sacrifice always be reverenced as worth the offering. May we as a nation cherish freedom, always and throughout the eternal course of our lives.
(Next post within the week will be “American Exceptionalism in Mormon Thought”)
Tags: America, Are Mormons Christians, faith in Jesus Christ, freedom, hope in Christ, liberty, mormon beliefs, mormon cult, Mormonism, resurrection
