For me, Memorial Day means sacrifice and respect — two things that civilization’s periodic lapses into greed and aggression regrettably require us to demand.
Recently there’s been talk about what it takes to gain respect. The speaker, who is surprisingly vain and puerile for a man in his eighth decade, often implied that the means justify the end…and the meaner you are, the happier the ending.
I have a big problem with that.
If a person’s idea of commanding respect involves intimidation, humiliation, and bodily harm, then that person is a weakling. Chances are good they’ve been a weakling their whole life. Making people afraid of you has nothing to with courage and honor; it has everything to do with gutlessness and cowardice.
How hard can I hit? How loud can I yell? How many people I can manipulate? How much pain can I inflict? If you have to ask those things as part of your quest for respect, then you don’t deserve a thing. Anyone who demands subservience is only focused on inflating their shriveled appendage of an ego.
Real respect is earned and given in equal measure. Neither party looks up or down at the other. It comes from mutual trust, not bitter contempt. It’s the basic dignity the Lord demonstrated in treating not just our neighbors but the least of our brethren. It’s not the moral abdication and mob mongering Pilate used to wipe off his hands.
Yesterday was an occasion to honor the thousands of men and women who performed the ultimate sacrifice. In dying, they’ve earned more respect than the naked emperors who pathetically parade their malignant insecurity and paranoia.