Memorial Day 2025. Like No Other Before It.

Christine Merser, May 26, 2025

“Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong.” - James Bryce

I don’t know how to write about Memorial Day this year.

It’s hard when what they were all fighting for and won each and every time one of them gave their life might be lost in a matter of months. You see, they were fighting for our republic. Our democracy. Our freedom. Justice. Checks and balances. And, whenever it was in danger, they gave their lives, their family members, to make sure it was safe. And so far, we won. And it made their sacrifice worth it. But now, we are close to losing it all.

Just a few months into this regime, and it is at the brink. They are not administering anything for the good of the American people. We are watching them strip this country down for parts for the rich. This government is not serving the people. It is servicing the rich. The one percent. The truly heinous humans who seek to take it all for themselves and leave nothing for those whose hard work built the very thing they are now looting.

Those who gave their lives in generations past believed in this country. Citizens were safe. Due process and services when we needed them meant we were safe. Not perfect, and we are seeing how imperfect we were more and more, but still possible. Those we are memorializing today believed we would take care of it with the same pride and love of our citizens that they had. That we would hold it. Protect it. Improve upon it. That we would be worthy of what they gave up. The ultimate sacrifice.

What do I say now? To myself? To others? To them as I walk the cemetery as I do every year. I take flowers from my garden and lay them on graves with flags. Strangers who I know I owe my life to.

What would I say if I went to a barbecue in Middle America today? Are you really gathering with pride over hot dogs? With joy? Do you really think you have done no harm supporting this tyrant? You voted for him. In droves. Are you proud?

Are those of you wearing your military gear today so unaware of what is around the corner for your futures? For your children’s futures? What has already started? People being picked off the streets and disappearing? Children's food at school gone? Health care no longer available?

Do you know what comes next? You will be next.

Next month, on June 14, there will be a military parade in Washington, D.C. Not for Memorial Day. Not for the end of a war. Not for past service men who gave their lives. But for Donald Trump’s birthday.

A military parade.

For a self-appointed dictator.

A celebration of one man. First time ever in this country. Because our military is not allowed to march on our streets.

Will you Americans notice the difference between that parade and all the others? The one you are marching in today? Will you notice that this man, the one you worship, will not be visiting Arlington National Cemetery today to check that every flag is at perfect attention? That he avoids those moments, those places, because they make him ‘uncomfortable’?

I still am still stunned when I remember he once said without shame that John McCain was a loser for getting captured. A man who spent five and a half years being tortured in a North Vietnamese prison camp, who refused to be released until the other men with him were set free first. But you know what stuns me more?

His daughter? McCain's daughter? She supported Trump.

So how do I face today with grace and make it a day of memorializing what matters. How do I make it matter?

I remind myself what this day is about. It is not about him. It is not about those who cheer for him. It is not about those who voted for him. Not today.

They are not worth our time today. You are not worth my time.

Today is for those who are no longer here.

For those who died with right on their sleeves. In the dirt they sleep in. Right. They were right. We are right.

For those who went forward with courage, and clarity, and commitment to the ideals we say we live by. And when I think of them, I find my answer. I will not waste this day in despair.

I will spend it in remembrance, and let it feed my resolve. I will watch a movie showing their heroics. I will read their stories. I will cry for the loss of their lives. I will celebrate their victories. I will pray for ours to come.

Those we honor today fought on foreign soil. We now fight on the soil they protected. For the same things. Freedom. Justice. Equality. For all.

So I will start my day thinking of those who came before. I will channel their bravery and fortitude into my soul for the days ahead. I will remind myself that my responsibility is to them. That they are who I fight for tomorrow. And that those in power now, the ones who think they are invincible, will not be remembered like the men and women we honor today. None of them, not one, will be a hero.

They will be remembered with relief that they are gone. That they didn’t do more damage. That their moment passed. That we rose up. That we took it back.

The men and women we celebrate today died believing in us. Let us live lives worthy of them.

God bless my vision of America.