Memorial Day Observations

Was your Memorial Day weekend memorable?  Actually, the reference to memory in this holiday's name is intended to reflect our Nation's debt to those who have died in military service to their country.  It's a tribute to the fallen, an opportunity to reflect on their supreme sacrifice and the debt we owe them for keeping our Nation safe.  It's a potentially sad yet inspirational day that provides the time for thoughtful recognition of those who have died in all of America's wars.  I am always surprised to note that our Civil War took the largest toll by far of all the wars in which our young men and women have been asked to serve.  Anywhere from 620,000 to 770,000 people died over the four year long struggle.  Imagine, if you can, how our Nation would be different had the outcome been reversed.

Here in New York, it was a glorious day with perfect 80+ degree weather and not a cloud in the sky.  We ambled over to Central Park where it seemed that everyone else who had not left Manhattan for the beaches or the hills decided to congregate with friends and spend a lazy afternoon reading, talking, eating, playing.

Some observations about Central Park on Memorial Day 2010:  I was fascinated by the circles that formed so naturally around every blanket thrown on the ground.  It seems when we gather with friends for a picnic or simply to enjoy warm weather, we tend to form a circle.  No one seems to say "Let's make a circle here."  It just happens.

And those circles are inwardly-focused.  We are with friends, with those "like us," and as we sit and talk with one another, we share looks and laughter within the circle, oblivious to the other circles around us.

Except for me.  Once I focused on this circle phenomenon, I couldn't tear myself away from studying it on the blankets around me.  The circles around us were different from one another: one was an extended family, perhaps Indian, perhaps Pakistani.  There were at least three generations gathered on their blankets and there was singing, interactive conversation, lots of activity. 

Another circle was of seven thirty-somethings, four women, three men and everyone in the group had a number of tattoos.  Some were on the arms, some shoulders, almost all had at least one on the legs and several who were shirtless displayed them on their backs.  It was as if they were members of a tattoo organization.  They played cards, laughed and talked and were otherwise indistinguishable from the other circles.

There was the circle of young parents, with several small children in the group.  Ball playing was the principal occupation and that, too, was done in a circle.

This circle pattern was played out as far as I could see across the Sheep Meadow in the Park.  Circles of conversation.  How did each of them form?  Someone had a plan and invited the others.  They came as a group and stayed that way; there was minimal interaction between circles.  What creates at least momentary interaction between circles? Simple: balls that stray from the circle; children that wander from the circle; dogs that find their way to other blankets.

Our Nation is a combination of circles within circles. 

I wondered how many of the groups mentioned Memorial Day and its purpose.  Did any of the groups have family members serving in the Armed Forces?  Virtually all of them, no doubt, included people who have a relative or friend or neighbor who has died in the service.  I'm wondering if the conversation ever turned to mentioning the purpose of the holiday.  Probably unlikely.  It would have been wonderful if there had been a moment when we were all called--all of us lounging on the grass in our circles--to observe a moment of silence for our Nation's fallen.   For that moment, our circles would have been linked.  Perhaps that silence would have fostered a worthy conversation in some of the circles about just who serves our Nation in its military and the debt the rest of us owe them.