Amaryllis Fox

Amaryllis Fox Instagram – I always wondered why we honor our fallen heroes on the last Monday in May, along with the more widely celebrated Nov. 11th. 
.
The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month was seared in my mind from history class & WWI poetry. Veteran’s Day was in November for a reason.
.
But why do we mark a second remembrance on this day in May?
.
The answer is uniquely American. And uniquely beautiful, I think. The first Memorial Day was held at the end of the Civil War, as returning soldiers decorated the graves of fallen friends & our heartbroken country began to repair its violent divisions in the name of a unified peace. It was maybe no accident that this coincided with an old holiday — a moveable feast known as Whit Monday.
.
Whit Monday marks the story of God’s spirit entering the hearts of those who had been divided by language & tradition & belief to remind them that they belong to the same cosmic whole.
.
In much of Europe, Whit Monday is celebrated as the beginning of summer, just as we think of Memorial Day here at home. But here, the day takes on the profound melancholy & hopefulness of lived experience. The Civil War taught us how steep is the price of division, in lives & treasure, property & dreams. I can’t fathom the courage of those early veterans, burying grievance & trauma to strive for a reunited land.
.
On this Memorial Day, a century & a half hence, we have the chance to honor those fallen heroes with that same striving — to rekindle our commitment to one another & the unified nation for which they paid with their lives. On this Whit Monday, we have an invitation to pause & open ourselves to the great cosmic Oneness — the shared destiny that links us, one to another, vulnerable creatures, safe only in each other’s vigilant keeping.
.
So maybe, reach out to that neighbor with the yard signs in the wrong color. Share some tea with that friend you stopped seeing. Turn off the talking heads and offer your enemy a listening ear. Let’s start burying some hatchets before we bury more dead. Because the endless fields of lost heroes don’t need more company. They’d rest a lot easier knowing today’s heroes were living instead. | Posted on 30/May/2023 03:58:31