A poem I shall never forget. Initially I learned it for an English class in Middle School, but now many years older, this poem sticks with me, comforts me in a way, and reminds me that while our dead can not speak, their sacrifice does. In Flanders fields the dead remind us to remember them as they were when they were alive. Through us, memories of them and who they were, will survive forever… if we allow.

In Flanders fields we’re reminded that their sacrifice was for a cause and that cause was worthy enough *for them* to fight and die for, and now their burden is our burden to bear for them. That is to say that while we may not agree with that cause, we must remember why our loved ones died so that their lives will be remembered as a whole…

In this sacred space and sacred time of remembrance we must carry on the torch that was handed to us. The torch, In Flanders fields, is a symbol to remind us of the price we pay to live free lives in this world. What it takes to be free is our obligation, our duty: to those who have died; to those who still live, but cannot fight; to ourselves; and, most of all, to our children.

If we fail, In Flanders fields tells us, that our responsibility spans beyond ourselves, if we fail to retain our privilege to be free then we will not honor our dead, past and present.

Today as you go about your holiday or perhaps tomorrow as you’re checking email or reading this, take a moment (not in silence, but in silent reflection) to remember the the brave women and men who died, by evaluating the poem, as it pertains to your life… Ask yourself:

• What torch has been thrown to me from failing hands?
• what am I doing to hold it high?

Have a great Memorial Day and tread lightly on the hot dogs and hamburgers!

~J out