Memorial Day Plus
Memorial Day honors the sacrifice of veterans and all who served. But to a subset, Hoosiers, it’s also about the biggest sporting event on the planet. I count among them. Growing up in central Indiana, the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race was the soundtrack of our holiday weekend. My father, a China-Burma-India veteran, had the rare day off from being a machinist for General Motors. Dad relaxed with iced tea, watermelon, and my mother’s fried chicken once he finished whatever needed doing around our forty-acre farm. All the while, the radio broadcast the race and the versed, trustworthy voice of Tom Carnegie loosed the imagination.
Service in the nation’s defense and betterment might be a COVID-expanded view this Memorial Day. Allowed that latitude, I will blend two themes. My daughter’s service as a teacher at Park Hill High School in Kansas City, Missouri. And the 500 Mile Race.
Sara, like all American teachers, took on a perilous, stressful, and often thankless task this past year. And if you doubt that, read something else. With fingers crossed, it looks like Sara and her students will see better days ahead with the coming school year. Fingers crossed. For Memorial Day additional honors in 2021, I nominate Sara’s service and all teachers. Teachers, first responders, health care providers, those who care for the aged, grocery workers, delivery drivers, warehouse workers, meat packers, and farmworkers, all. Let them ride alongside veterans in this weekend’s fanciful parade.
I tried hard to make Sara a motorhead. And it worked. So, I know she’ll be listening to the soundtrack of Memorial Day weekend as she relaxes into a recuperative summer. Then, come fall, she will rejoin the front lines and battle again in America’s indispensable engagement. Here’s to you Sara, and all those who led America through the darkness.
