Memorial Day asks what kind of America we are willing to defend

This Memorial Day we need to seriously consider whether our actions and voices in this democratic republic are debasing or honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Are we guilty of taking the rights and privileges we enjoy for granted? Or worse yet, of totally abdicating our responsibility to continue to protect and preserve them?

There is no passing the buck

Each of us bears responsibility for where America finds herself today.

The most casual observer can readily see that any agreement about where America is compared with where America should be headed — in terms of governance, rights and values — is deeply fractured, and elusive at best.

If you or your loved ones were asked to put life and limb at risk to defend America, do you know what you would be defending?

Would you be defending the longstanding belief in, and adherence to, the laws, privileges, institutions and individual rights outlined in the U.S. Constitution and its amendments?

Or would you be defending the current practices and growing movement to disregard and nullify those sacred documents, to neuter the power and functions of the branches of government, and to deny and restrict individual rights?

Which America are you willing, like so many generations before us whom we are honoring today, to defend and possibly give your life for?

Whether it was the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, World War I and World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, or more recent theaters of war — Iraq and Afghanistan — the purposes and missions of those wars were more clearly defined.

Congress and the American people were informed and were asked to support and sacrifice, whether or not we agreed with the act of war and the reasons for it.

Where does America stand when it comes to engaging in wars today?

There is unending controversy about the current war with Iran on multiple fronts, with the looming prospect of sending American troops to fight if a peaceful resolution is not achieved soon.

But we, as nonmilitary citizens, are engaged in the greatest war of all: fighting for the soul of America — who and what she will become.

Late last year Congress passed and the president signed into law the annual defense policy bill, which requires eligible young men to be automatically registered for the military draft pool starting in December rather than signing up manually.

Whether voluntarily or by conscription, each citizen should be clear about what the country stands for that they are being asked to protect and defend.

With the end of the draft in 1973, young men and women from all walks of life voluntarily chose to join the various branches of military service. They saw it as honorable choices for so many reasons: personal development, job and career opportunities all while serving their country. Many still do.

We all feel a sense of pride and gratitude when we encounter men and women in military uniforms. It is common practice to thank veterans, whether familiar or strangers, at every opportunity for their service.

Today, despite the divisive and rancorous climate within our branches of government and the critical departments in charge of our common welfare and defense, each of us as civilians must find a way to protect, preserve and pass on the sanctity of the freedoms, rights and values our fellow Americans gave their lives for.

How do we model and pass on a sense of respect, duty, honor and pride when those values are not practiced by our leaders at the highest levels of government, in the media and in other public places?

By taking advantage of the age-old learning and teaching foundation at our fingertips: home.

With the precarious state of civic education in many of our schools, and dangerous and prevalent influence of social media, we cannot afford to ignore our responsibility to convey a healthy sense of the importance of respecting and adhering to the rule of law, understanding how our government should work, and honoring our values and human rights.

We cannot leave the understanding of those critical areas of America’s identity to chance and silence.

It can be argued that what is happening in the community in which we live, and in communities all across America, is a direct result of the civic education we passed, or failed to pass, on to our children in schools and at home — from one generation to the next, directly or indirectly.

What our children are taught, or learn by association, has far-reaching impact and lasting consequences, especially in determining who they become as engaged citizens, leaders, and other public roles they take on.

How can we ever think we can afford to leave something so important to the other influences competing to determine or dictate their behavior and choices? What we choose to teach in our home is up against formidable odds under the best circumstances.

So doing nothing to fight to preserve and promote the soul of America that so many sacrificed their quality of life and died for is not an option.

On this Memorial Day, and given where America is at home and on the world stage, we have a lot to consider.

Ongoing civic engagement should be a staple at home. But it also must be ever present in city hall, the state capitol and Washington, D.C.

Visiting military burial sites, placing flags, and making patriotic remarks ring hollow if we sit silently by the rest of the year, say nothing and do nothing as the things they fought and died for are becoming more and more unrecognizable.

What America are you proud of and willing to defend and die for?

More importantly, as civilians, what are we willing to do here at home to fight for America’s soul — her essence and very identity — that those we remember today died for?

Those are the questions we face this Memorial Day, and beyond.