{"id":5956,"date":"2025-05-26T06:09:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T06:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/?p=5956"},"modified":"2025-05-26T06:09:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T06:09:00","slug":"how-bright-a-light-do-we-shine-this-memorial-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/?p=5956","title":{"rendered":"How Bright A Light Do We Shine This Memorial Day?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By MIKE MAGEE\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Veterans Administration historians<\/a>, the origin of Memorial Day dates back to 1864 when three women from Boalsburg, Pennsylvania joined in grief to decorate the graves of family members who had died in the Civil War. A year later, other townspeople joined in and one year later, in 1866, women in Columbus, Mississippi, joined the event, in honor of fallen Confederate soldiers. That was 14 years after the publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe\u2019s Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin<\/a> <\/em>in 1852.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In that first year it was published, Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin<\/em> sold over 300,000 copies. Author and critic Alfred Kazin<\/a> called it \u201cThe most powerful and most enduring work ever written about American slavery.\u201d Its prominence in the American lexicon speaks for itself, and its relevance regarding goodness and governance, leadership by legislation, women\u2019s roles in creating civil societies and the underpinnings of Christianity in the unrealized potential of the American dream all speak to the continued value of the publication.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On page 2 of the preface, Harriet Beecher Stowe<\/a> comments on \u201cmemorializing\u201d human hatred and cruelty to the ash bin of history. She writes, \u201cIt is a comfort to hope, as so many of the world\u2019s sorrows and wrongs have, from age to age, been lived down, so a time shall come when sketches similar to these shall be valuable only as memorials of what has long ceased to be.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

To this, we must respond today, \u201cNot yet. There is work that remains.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the last page of her book, Harriet Beecher Stowe<\/a> in 1852 reflects (as if on our modern day predicament), \u201cThis is an age of the world when nations are trembling and convulsed. A mighty influence is abroad, surging and heaving the world, as with an earthquake. And is America safe? Every nation that carries in its bosom great and unredressed injustice has in it the elements of this last convulsion.\u201d<\/p>\n

To this, we believers in human goodness and democracy must respond, \u201cWe will never be free, safe and healthy if our elected leaders promote policies \u2013 whether here or abroad \u2013 that belie our finer instincts, promote fear, and trigger predation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The White House, until recently, has largely been a sacred and treasured shrine. Back in 2013, our President at the time, Barack Obama, hosted our former President, George H.W. Bush<\/a> and his family there to commemorate the 5000th award of a \u201cDaily-Point-of-Light\u201d, that the former President had launched<\/a> to \u201chonor individuals who demonstrate the transformative power of service, and who are driving significant and sustained impact through their everyday actions and words that light the path for other points of light.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here in part, is what President Obama<\/a> said that day: \u201c\u2026given the humility that\u2019s defined your life, I suspect it\u2019s harder for you to see something that\u2019s clear to everybody else around you, and that\u2019s how bright a light you shine \u2014 how your vision and example have illuminated the path for so many others, how your love of service has kindled a similar love in the hearts of millions here at home and around the world. And, frankly, just the fact that you\u2019re such a gentleman and such a good and kind person I think helps to reinforce that spirit of service. So on behalf of us all, let me just say that we are surely a kinder and gentler nation because of you and we can\u2019t thank you enough.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just a dozen years ago, just to be publicly \u201cthanked\u201d seemed enough. And \u201cactive citizenship\u201d as a member of this great nation was viewed by many \u2013 by most \u2013 as a duty and an honor \u2013 even to the point of sacrificing one\u2019s life in defense of this nation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That, after all, is what Memorial Day commemorates. Action is required, as is goodness and virtue by example and daily behavior.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We continue to struggle in the shadow of Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin. We lack perfection, but we certainly could, and should, do better. Because, to be healthy in America, to realize our full potential, to be civilized, as Ralph Waldo Emerson<\/a> said, \u201cto make good the cause of freedom against slavery you must be\u2026 Declaration of Independence walking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike Magee MD is a Medical Historian and regular contributor to THCB. He is the author of<\/em> CODE BLUE: Inside America\u2019s Medical Industrial Complex<\/em><\/a>. (Grove\/2020)<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By MIKE MAGEE\u00a0 According to Veterans Administration historians, the origin of Memorial Day dates back to 1864 when three women from Boalsburg, Pennsylvania joined in grief to decorate the graves of family members who had died in the Civil War. A year later, other townspeople joined in and one year later, in 1866, women in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5956"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}