My son is a unique individual with an uncanny penchant for music. Since he just recently completed his first year as an undergraduate music major, my first experiences with him as a child of music have been flooding my mind. One of his earliest musical traits, exhibited when he was about 2 or 3 years old, is that he would listen to Vivaldi as he paced around the room. My son was well into his third year of life before he began to speak discernable words, so his innate musical talents superseded the milestone of spoken communication. He would request his Vivaldi with a finger point, then begin his anticipation for the tracks to play. As soon as the music began he would pace around the room, hands dropped motionless at his sides, face to the floor. Little emotion was involved with the first two tracks, but when track #3 came on, he would continue his pensive pace with tears streaming down his cheeks, only to be replaced by joy-filled pacing when Track #4 came up. I would watch in awe and quite frankly a stupor of ignorance because I did not "see" or feel the music the way Max did. It pained my mom-heart to see him feeling such deep sadness, but on the occasion I attempted to skip Track #3 to avoid his despair, he protested vehemently and demanded, without words, that I play the tracks in order. What was he thinking? I didn't know because he couldn't tell me. But the thought was there, as well as the feeling attached to it. And he was just fine with the sad that came as part of the package deal of his favorite Vivaldi CD.
I find Memorial Day to be one of those holidays that is, much like Max's Vivaldi excursions, in deep contrast with itself. Folks will utter the ubiquitous phrase, "Happy Memorial Day", and I shudder a little inside. It is with joy that we take the day off to feel the anticipation of the summer months that lurk just around the calendar bend. But with this happiness, we must not forget the reason and accept that Memorial Day, like the Vivaldi CD, is a package deal. We must remember that this day is held in high honor to recall and remember all the lives lost at the cost of our freedom. We cannot celebrate the joy of freedom without also experiencing the sadness of lost lives, broken families and children/spouses/parents who never come back home. I am going to let Bernadette finish this post with her winning speech given last year at our township Memorial Day commemoration. Keep the soldiers and families in your heart today, and don't be afraid...no, in fact, demand as my little man did so many years ago, to feel the sadness of this day and allow your emotions to run down your cheeks in memorialization of life lost at the expense of so much that we have to celebrate.
Here is Bernadette's full speech: *Bernadette on Memorial Day 2019
