Make It Matter…
This is the concluding section of a longer reflection which you can read at the link below.
MEMORIAL DAY reminds us that freedom and democratic institutions have always depended on ordinary citizens willing to do extraordinary things for one another. It reminds us that some Americans gave every tomorrow they had so others could enjoy their today. And it reminds us that the responsibility of the living is not merely to remember the dead once a year, but to live in a way worthy of their sacrifice.
That obligation does not belong only to veterans. Every American can “make it matter.” We do it by serving our community honestly, by teaching our children integrity and citizenship, by treating fellow citizens with dignity even during disagreement, by rejecting cruelty and cynicism, by defending constitutional values, by helping neighbors in moments of hardship, and by choosing character over rage and service over selfishness. Those ideals are not partisan. They are American.
Near the end of my favorite movie, Saving Private Ryan, the dying Captain Miller looks at James Ryan and says two quiet words: “Earn this.” The first time I watched the film, I was moved. The older I become, though, the more I think about that scene alongside the one that follows. An elderly Ryan, standing in Normandy and haunted with emotion among the graves of those who died to save him, turns to his wife and implores her: “Tell me I’m a good man.”
I think that is the question Memorial Day should leave with all of us.
Put aside success, wealth, power, or political victories. Are our lives worthy of the sacrifices made by others on our behalf? Are we good citizens? Good neighbors? Good stewards of the freedoms entrusted to us?
Are we making their sacrifice matter?
The names of the men and women in my wooden cigar box never got the chance to grow old. They never got the opportunity to ask those questions of themselves decades later. But we do.
Perhaps on this Memorial Day, as Americans from every background gather, we might do something that’s becoming rare in our divided age: come together quietly as one nation and reflect on what courageous sacrifice for one another truly means.
Remember them. Honor them. And above all—make it matter.
Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling (Ret.) was commander of U.S. Army Europe from 2011 to 2012. He also commanded 1st Armored Division in Germany and Multinational Division-North during the surge in Iraq from 2007 to 2009. Hertling writes for The Bulwark. See the entire article at https://substack.com/home/post/p-198664931
