Earlier today the Barrancas National Cemetery at NAS Pensacola was extremely busy. When I visited this morning, one interment service was being completed as another procession awaited their turn, and yet another was turning in the gate. Thanks to the local Boy Scouts of America, a sea of small American flags dotted the landscape, one posted by each headstone, a reminder that it is Memorial Day weekend, a time for grateful remembrance.

Memorial Day invokes more of a sense of observance than of celebration. The last Monday in May does not usually generate as much holiday enthusiasm as Christmas, Easter, or Independence Day. However, we should be careful that the meaning of this holiday does not become lost in the busyness of our activities.

Memorial Day is not just another “day off” but a day to remember those who have lost their lives in the military service of our country. This is a day to remember those who, according to Henry Ward Beecher, “hover as a cloud of witnesses above this Nation.”

In a culture that is increasingly attention-deficient, remembering is a painful but necessary discipline. Revisiting stories from the battlefield may keep us consciously aware of the harsh realities of war. Exploring the historical narrative may enable us to learn from both the successes and the failures of our ancestors. When we remember the fallen we keep alive the individual and corporate legacies of valor and courage that inspire and challenge us to be responsible citizens of the free world.

To fail to remember is to develop a convenient amnesia that eventually robs succeeding generations of acquaintance with our national heritage. To fail to remember creates a contagious apathy that leads to a neglect of both our freedom and our citizenship.   To fail to remember can produce a false sense of security and an inaccurate perception that we are exempt from future warfare. If for no other reason, we should remember in order to guard against what George Washington called “the impostures of pretended patriotism.”

Perhaps our high tech world is at times too much of a fantasy world.  Reflecting on the sacrifices of previous generations may trigger in us a reality check and a gut check.  This kind of remembering is a painful but necessary discipline, a practice that forges vision from memory and distills wisdom from knowledge.

In The Roadmender Margaret Fairless Barber suggests that “To look backward for a while is to refresh the eye, to restore it, and to render it the more fit for its prime function of looking forward.”

This year, as you observe Memorial Day, take time to remember the men and women who served with distinction and made extraordinary sacrifices to establish and preserve our freedom. By remembering our heritage, may we be better equipped and motivated to engage the future with courage and hope.

(Barry Howard serves as senior minister at First Baptist Church of Pensacola.)