A WORD FROM THE PRESIDENT: A Memorial Day Reflection

A Memorial Day Reflection:

Since this issue of Tidings comes out on the day after we celebrate Memorial Day, I decided that my comments should focus on what it is that we are called to remember.

Of course, Memorial Day has traditionally focused on the women and men who have given their lives (many of them literally) in wartime, to protect this nation. This goes back to "the war to end all wars" (which, of course, it didn't). It goes back to World War II, fought in Europe and Asia. We are also called to remember those who served in conflicts which had less clear purposes and outcomes: Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq/Iran and Afghanistan. We pay tribute, today to all who were engaged or affected by any and all of these conflicts!

But also, this day, I encourage us to expand the things that we remember. May we remember the death of George Floyd just one year ago and the cries for racial justice that it sparked. May we remember the increasing attacks and harassment of people of Asian descent -wrongly associating them with the genesis of the deadly virus spread abroad in the world this past year. And may we -on this Memorial Day -give thanks for the marked reduction in Covid infections and deaths in this country, while remembering at the same time the ravages of this disease that still continue in many parts of the world.

We begin this month of June with Memorial Day. Let us remember all of those things mentioned above, while continuing to pray for the end of the suffering and injustices of this age.

- Dave Tomlinson