Memorial Day
Yesterday was Memorial Day, our holiday for remembering all those – some 1.4 million from the American Revolution until now – who gave their lives in conflicts while serving in our nation’s armed forces.
The idea of having a time to commemorate those who have died in the line of duty while serving their country goes back into our history. Some see a parallel between our country’s celebration and the European Catholic tradition of entire towns marching to church yards to honor dead family members and friends. In the U.S., there is also a history of annual “decoration days” where people gathered together, tended cemeteries, placed flowers on graves, spent time with family and other friends. This represents a similar tradition.
Immediately following the Civil War, people from the North and the South saw a need for a national celebration to honor those who had died and also to rebuild unity and good will. You can understand these parallel needs when you realize that some 750,000 people died in the Civil War out of a total national population of 31.5 million.1 This number of deaths represents about 2.4% of the total population or about 7.8% of the males over age 14 (those who would have done most of the fighting). Everyone living at that time would have had a close relationship – immediate or extended family member, neighbor, friend – with someone who did not come home from the war.
These numbers are huge. More Americans died in the Civil War than in all the armed conflicts this country has engaged in since then. If the same number of Americans per capita had died in Vietnam as in the Civil War, there would be over four million names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial instead of about 58,000.2
Over the years Memorial Day and its celebration have taken various forms. It first became a national holiday in 1868, celebrated on May 30 each year. Within a decade, you could not live in an American town, North or South, and be unaware of this spring event. Today, the holiday is celebrated on the last Monday each May by families and communities. In Boston, for example, each Memorial Day “the Massachusetts Military Fund plants a garden of 37,000 flags in front of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on the Boston Common to commemorate each of the Massachusetts service members who have given their lives to defend the United States and our freedom since the Revolutionary War.”3
So, what might be the leadership lessons that we can draw from the history surrounding Memorial Day? I think immediately of two, sacrifice and gratitude.
With regard to sacrifice, we may never be called upon to sacrifice our lives as some 1.4 million of our fellow citizens have since the Revolutionary War began in 1776. Yet, we are called daily to sacrifice something we value for others. I think of my grandfather who drilled into me as a young boy, you never ask others to do what you are unwilling to do. Or, said differently by Professor Harley Myler, Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering at Lamar University: “Second lieutenants eat last.” Parents will choose to miss a meal so that their children may have something to eat. A leader will spend the time necessary with a staff member to address his or her very real needs even if it causes the leader to change his or her plans. As I look at the sacrifices others have made for me, it compels me to make sacrifices for those I encounter.
The Tuesday Reading has focused previously on gratitude.4 In this guest essay, Bill Hogue, executive coach in the MOR Leadership Programs and senior clinical professor of information science and executive consultant for enterprise initiatives at the University of South Carolina where he previously served as the University of South Carolina’s first Vice President for Information Technology and CIO, recalled a statement by Robert Emmons, author and Professor of Psychology at the University of California at Davis, about gratitude. Emmons said: “Feeling gratitude starts with the realization of what we have received from others and what it has cost them (emphasis added).” 5
So, sacrifice and gratitude are inexplicably linked. As you go about your activities this week, take note of the opportunities you have to step it up and make a difference for others by doing more than you might have in the past. And, also be more diligent in looking for those opportunities where you need to recognize what others have done for you. Making the effort to do both of these will change you. It has changed me.
Make it a great week. . . . . jim
Jim Bruce is a Senior Fellow and Executive Coach at MOR Associates. He previously was Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Vice President for Information Systems and CIO at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.
References:
- Guy Gugliotta, New Estimate Raises Civil War Death Toll, NY Times, April 2012.
- David W. Blight, Forgetting Why We Remember, NY Times Opinion, May 2011.
- Memorial Day Activities for Boston Visitors – 2018, Boston Discover Guide.
- Bill Hogue, Gratitude, Tuesday Reading, January 2018.
- Clare Ansberry, Beyond Thankful: Cultivating a Life of Gratitude, Turning Points, Wall Street Journal, November 13, 2017.
- December 2024 (1)
- November 2024 (4)
- October 2024 (5)
- September 2024 (4)
- August 2024 (4)
- July 2024 (5)
- June 2024 (4)
- May 2024 (4)
- April 2024 (5)
- March 2024 (4)
- February 2024 (4)
- January 2024 (5)
- December 2023 (3)
- November 2023 (4)
- October 2023 (5)
- September 2023 (4)
- August 2023 (4)
- July 2023 (4)
- June 2023 (4)
- May 2023 (5)
- April 2023 (4)
- March 2023 (1)
- January 2023 (4)
- December 2022 (3)
- November 2022 (5)
- October 2022 (4)
- September 2022 (4)
- August 2022 (5)
- July 2022 (4)
- June 2022 (4)
- May 2022 (5)
- April 2022 (4)
- March 2022 (5)
- February 2022 (4)
- January 2022 (4)
- December 2021 (3)
- November 2021 (4)
- October 2021 (3)
- September 2021 (4)
- August 2021 (4)
- July 2021 (4)
- June 2021 (5)
- May 2021 (4)
- April 2021 (4)
- March 2021 (5)
- February 2021 (4)
- January 2021 (4)
- December 2020 (4)
- November 2020 (4)
- October 2020 (6)
- September 2020 (5)
- August 2020 (4)
- July 2020 (7)
- June 2020 (7)
- May 2020 (5)
- April 2020 (4)
- March 2020 (5)
- February 2020 (4)
- January 2020 (4)
- December 2019 (2)
- November 2019 (4)
- October 2019 (4)
- September 2019 (3)
- August 2019 (3)
- July 2019 (2)
- June 2019 (4)
- May 2019 (3)
- April 2019 (5)
- March 2019 (4)
- February 2019 (3)
- January 2019 (5)
- December 2018 (2)
- November 2018 (4)
- October 2018 (5)
- September 2018 (3)
- August 2018 (3)
- July 2018 (4)
- June 2018 (4)
- May 2018 (5)
- April 2018 (4)
- March 2018 (5)
- February 2018 (5)
- January 2018 (3)
- December 2017 (3)
- November 2017 (4)
- October 2017 (5)
- September 2017 (3)
- August 2017 (5)
- July 2017 (3)
- June 2017 (8)
- May 2017 (5)
- April 2017 (4)
- March 2017 (4)
- February 2017 (4)
- January 2017 (4)
- December 2016 (2)
- November 2016 (7)
- October 2016 (5)
- September 2016 (8)
- August 2016 (5)
- July 2016 (4)
- June 2016 (12)
- May 2016 (5)
- April 2016 (4)
- March 2016 (7)
- February 2016 (4)
- January 2016 (10)
- December 2015 (4)
- November 2015 (6)
- October 2015 (4)
- September 2015 (7)
- August 2015 (5)
- July 2015 (6)
- June 2015 (12)
- May 2015 (4)
- April 2015 (6)
- March 2015 (10)
- February 2015 (4)
- January 2015 (4)
- December 2014 (3)
- November 2014 (5)
- October 2014 (4)
- September 2014 (6)
- August 2014 (4)
- July 2014 (4)
- June 2014 (4)
- May 2014 (5)
- April 2014 (5)
- March 2014 (5)
- February 2014 (4)
- January 2014 (5)
- December 2013 (5)
- November 2013 (5)
- October 2013 (10)
- September 2013 (4)
- August 2013 (5)
- July 2013 (8)
- June 2013 (6)
- May 2013 (4)
- April 2013 (5)
- March 2013 (4)
- February 2013 (4)
- January 2013 (5)
- December 2012 (3)
- November 2012 (4)
- October 2012 (5)
- September 2012 (4)
- August 2012 (4)
- July 2012 (5)
- June 2012 (4)
- May 2012 (5)
- April 2012 (4)
- March 2012 (4)
- February 2012 (4)
- January 2012 (4)
- December 2011 (3)
- November 2011 (5)
- October 2011 (4)
- September 2011 (4)
- August 2011 (4)
- July 2011 (4)
- June 2011 (5)
- May 2011 (5)
- April 2011 (3)
- March 2011 (4)
- February 2011 (4)
- January 2011 (4)
- December 2010 (3)
- November 2010 (4)
- October 2010 (4)
- September 2010 (3)
- August 2010 (5)
- July 2010 (4)
- June 2010 (5)
- May 2010 (4)
- April 2010 (3)
- March 2010 (2)
- February 2010 (4)
- January 2010 (4)
- December 2009 (4)
- November 2009 (4)
- October 2009 (4)
- September 2009 (4)
- August 2009 (3)
- July 2009 (3)
- June 2009 (3)
- May 2009 (4)
- April 2009 (4)
- March 2009 (2)
- February 2009 (3)
- January 2009 (3)
- December 2008 (3)
- November 2008 (3)
- October 2008 (3)
- August 2008 (3)
- July 2008 (4)
- May 2008 (2)
- April 2008 (2)
- March 2008 (2)
- February 2008 (1)
- January 2008 (1)
- December 2007 (3)
- November 2007 (3)
- October 2007 (3)
- September 2007 (1)
- August 2007 (2)
- July 2007 (4)
- June 2007 (2)
- May 2007 (3)
- April 2007 (1)
- March 2007 (2)
- February 2007 (2)
- January 2007 (3)
- December 2006 (1)
- November 2006 (1)
- October 2006 (1)
- September 2006 (3)
- August 2006 (1)
- June 2006 (2)
- April 2006 (1)
- March 2006 (1)
- February 2006 (1)
- January 2006 (1)
- December 2005 (1)
- November 2005 (2)
- October 2005 (1)
- August 2005 (1)
- July 2005 (1)
- April 2005 (2)
- March 2005 (4)
- February 2005 (2)
- December 2004 (1)