Freedom Is Blowin’ in the Wind

I’m not sure why Socrates and Bob Dylan are orbiting through my brain this Memorial Day weekend. But there they are, chasing each other around like kids on the beach playground in my Jersey Shore town.

Bright slides and swings are guarded by brand new pirate ships (aaaargh!) where clever Jack Sparrows are sure to hold many a’ prisoner this summer. And here’s where my synapses start swashbuckling faster than the pint-sized pirates.

You see, Socrates said we’re all prisoners in one way or another, trapped in our own perspectives. Abstract stuff, for sure, but true. How can we not be consumed by what impacts our lives – a hurricane, a pandemic, another senseless shooting? Yet, the philosopher believed it only takes a turn of our metaphorical heads to see things differently. If we query inward, we change our realities. He said the path out of our confined views should be paved with introspection — in other words: asking ourselves lots of questions.

Dylan, the other great muse meandering in my mind, got that. The questions in his classic folk anthem resonated on his 80th birthday last week as much as they did when he wrote the song in 1962. And maybe it’s no coincidence he told us that answers are just “blowin’ in the wind.” 

Which brings me back to Memorial Day. At every ceremony, the beautiful stars and stripes fly with abandon, perhaps the surest sign that the answers really are blowin’ in the wind. Our flag remains a symbol of freedom, of spirit, of hope for all of us –regardless of our differences.

Each year, as one local veteran places flowers on a World War II monument in my small community, he reminds us that “all gave some; some gave all.” Armed Forces Day celebrates those still serving; Veteran’s Day honors those among us who served. But Memorial Day, begun after the Civil War, is a tribute to those who gave all.

I am deeply grateful to them, just as I am grateful to live in a land where we can ask tough questions, where we can disagree, where kids can play with abandon at beachfront parks. Thanks to those who defended our country, we have the free will to celebrate our diverse country any way we choose this Memorial Day.

I hope yours is the start of a healthy, joyful, loving summer season!