Joseph Legaspi's Blog - Posts Tagged "sacrifice"
Memorial Day
In September 2001, I was a newspaper writer for the City University of New York and wrote an article that I never thought I'd ever write. I also didn't think I could. All journalists need a sense of detachment whenever they're emotionally involved in covering any story, and I was too shaken by the horrific images I witnessed with my own eyes in the city where I grew up. Over the course of my life, I can't recall how many times I was inside the World Trade Center, and it was only a few weeks prior to Sept 11th that I spent an entire day at the top floor for a federal grants conference. When we were attacked that day, Americans across the country in unison cried out how "they" attacked our home literally or figuratively. For me, it was both.
Prior to then, I never experienced war or seen death all around me on a massive scale. It was like a soldier came to life from the pages of my history books and said, "You read how the battles were fought. Now look around. This is how it felt." It is the same feeling caught in the many tear drops on a soldier's grave or the clenched fists of soldiers at the sight of their slaughtered comrades. But it isn't only about anger, sadness and grief. It is also the other feeling I got that day from the squads of firefighters rushing into a collapsing tower, armed without any weapons except their hope and humanity. It is the feeling I got watching fellow New Yorkers suddenly treating each other like family, where the labels black, white, yellow or brown weren't as important as the label "American".
This is the paradox of war. It strengthens our unity, nobility, and quest for peace. It makes us stand up and keep our dignity in the face of violence and not stoop down to the lower levels of those who harm us. It brings out what is benevolent in us, and in so doing, distinguishes us from our enemies who are not. It tests the principles that have kept us safe and secure, and forces us to hold tightly to our values that suddenly need protecting at all costs. It makes us give up a part of ourselves for the greater good. It is, in a word, what Memorial Day is all about -- sacrifice.
Sacrifice is teamwork taken the highest level. In a business sense, it is what transforms a good company into a great company; a good product into a great product; and good leader in a great leader - the endless hours and days going "above and beyond" your regular duties in order to perfect a project or product. It is what our founding fathers built this nation upon when they gave up the security of their homeland to create a nation with an unknown future. It was the vision for a new kind of nation - one without monarchies, oligarchies, and any ruling power based on hereditary rights or intrusive force. So it was an experiment in that sense, a country promoting equality and freedom better than any in history, one they believed in so much that they risked their livelihood and their own lives.
Vision and courage were the first steps to forming this nation. But it was sacrifice that solidified this ideal into a real and formidable sovereignty. On Memorial Day, "sacrifice" is the reason we are able to live and work in a free nation instead of continuing to dream if such a great land could exist. For all our pursuits of financial wealth, note that money didn't enable us to win the American Revolutionary War. It wasn't won by superior intelligence or by advanced technology. It was won by ordinary people with extraordinary courage and vision that they relied upon far more than any material they owned. Then when it came down to making the ultimate sacrifice, they made the decision so that we could become a better people, and from their example of selflessness, our children and their children can grow better than we ever imagined.
The spirit of Memorial Day reminds us of our own responsibility to defend the future of America and her ideals. In this year when we elect our new commander-in-chief, think of this day. What sacrifices has this person made for our country? If it came to it, would this person take the place of the last wounded soldier on the front lines? Would this person die for my country and me, as I would for them?
Yet, in all our self-reflection, remember that Memorial Day is a day about our late heroes, not us. We honor their lives, their stories, and their families. Though I imagine their selfless nature would've made them uncomfortable with too much fanfare and attention. I'd like to think they'd want their actions to speak for themselves, and that it would've been enough for them to see us complete what they've done -- taken death and transform it into our fighting chance to prosper and work even harder towards creating a more free and peaceful world.
Prior to then, I never experienced war or seen death all around me on a massive scale. It was like a soldier came to life from the pages of my history books and said, "You read how the battles were fought. Now look around. This is how it felt." It is the same feeling caught in the many tear drops on a soldier's grave or the clenched fists of soldiers at the sight of their slaughtered comrades. But it isn't only about anger, sadness and grief. It is also the other feeling I got that day from the squads of firefighters rushing into a collapsing tower, armed without any weapons except their hope and humanity. It is the feeling I got watching fellow New Yorkers suddenly treating each other like family, where the labels black, white, yellow or brown weren't as important as the label "American".
This is the paradox of war. It strengthens our unity, nobility, and quest for peace. It makes us stand up and keep our dignity in the face of violence and not stoop down to the lower levels of those who harm us. It brings out what is benevolent in us, and in so doing, distinguishes us from our enemies who are not. It tests the principles that have kept us safe and secure, and forces us to hold tightly to our values that suddenly need protecting at all costs. It makes us give up a part of ourselves for the greater good. It is, in a word, what Memorial Day is all about -- sacrifice.
Sacrifice is teamwork taken the highest level. In a business sense, it is what transforms a good company into a great company; a good product into a great product; and good leader in a great leader - the endless hours and days going "above and beyond" your regular duties in order to perfect a project or product. It is what our founding fathers built this nation upon when they gave up the security of their homeland to create a nation with an unknown future. It was the vision for a new kind of nation - one without monarchies, oligarchies, and any ruling power based on hereditary rights or intrusive force. So it was an experiment in that sense, a country promoting equality and freedom better than any in history, one they believed in so much that they risked their livelihood and their own lives.
Vision and courage were the first steps to forming this nation. But it was sacrifice that solidified this ideal into a real and formidable sovereignty. On Memorial Day, "sacrifice" is the reason we are able to live and work in a free nation instead of continuing to dream if such a great land could exist. For all our pursuits of financial wealth, note that money didn't enable us to win the American Revolutionary War. It wasn't won by superior intelligence or by advanced technology. It was won by ordinary people with extraordinary courage and vision that they relied upon far more than any material they owned. Then when it came down to making the ultimate sacrifice, they made the decision so that we could become a better people, and from their example of selflessness, our children and their children can grow better than we ever imagined.
The spirit of Memorial Day reminds us of our own responsibility to defend the future of America and her ideals. In this year when we elect our new commander-in-chief, think of this day. What sacrifices has this person made for our country? If it came to it, would this person take the place of the last wounded soldier on the front lines? Would this person die for my country and me, as I would for them?
Yet, in all our self-reflection, remember that Memorial Day is a day about our late heroes, not us. We honor their lives, their stories, and their families. Though I imagine their selfless nature would've made them uncomfortable with too much fanfare and attention. I'd like to think they'd want their actions to speak for themselves, and that it would've been enough for them to see us complete what they've done -- taken death and transform it into our fighting chance to prosper and work even harder towards creating a more free and peaceful world.
