Dakota Beacon

I’ve often wondered over the years if Cleo Nordquist realized the impact she had on me (and many of her other students in her fifth and sixth grade classes) with her tireless work as an American Legion Auxiliary member during the annual poppy drive and poster contest.

Through her commitment to the memory of those who served in WWI, WWII, and Korea, she taught me the significance and importance of acts of commemoration in the service of memory.  

Let’s face it. We humans have short memories that need reminding.  

One historian quotes a famous poet, and asks: “What power will preserve what once was, if memory does not last?”  He goes on to say, “The past does not vanish all at once; it dies slowly. But the dead, if remembered, maintain their ground, and live among us.” In that case, memory is a beautiful gift of what a person or event in our lives meant to us.  In many countries, the memory of those who served in the defense of that country is thrown away in unmarked mass graves and never spoken of again.  

I have taken to interviewing Veterans for Open Range, my TV show on BEK, as my way of remembering their sacrifice and contribution to the preservation of the freedoms I enjoy.  A common theme I’ve heard from older veterans is the concern that younger vets (from Desert storm on down) are not participating in organizations like the American Legion , VFW and AmVets in solidarity with  those who consider this sacred ground.

They believe that history, if not remembered and studied, is bound to repeat itself. A case in point is the recent failure of the USSR a socialist Republic. It failed economically and did not provide safety security or justice for its people.

The atrocities committed by her leaders should raise huge doubts about socialism (which is a pre-cursor to communism) yet somehow the left influence in America is flirting with it as an alternative to the system we have in place.  These are not just different approaches to reach the same end.

Our founding fathers were champions of individual rights with liberty and justice for all. For younger generations it is easy to forget people and events that happen to be far from our personal experience. They become old news and even end up in the irrelevant status in our data bases.

We simply cannot risk this becoming a national trend. As I thought of the origin of the poppy as a symbol of the cost of freedom in the two Great Wars of the last century, I remembered that the poppies that grew in Europe were redder because of the effect of all the decomposed rubble and human decay.

I thought of the poem “In Flanders Field” and the image it conjures up and how re-introducing it in creative ways could be a start in capturing the hearts and imaginations of our time.  Just a few things to reflect on this Memorial Day in America—land of the free and Home of the brave.

P.S. Thanks for the inspiration, Cleo!

Emineth is a North Dakota native businessman and political activist. He is a former executive director and chairman of the North Dakota Republican Party. Emineth has served on the Republican National Committee and chaired numerous presidential campaigns in North Dakota. He is the host of “The Legislature Today” and “Open Range” daily TV shows on BEK. He is a serial entrepreneur and has 40-plus years of business experience with multi-national companies. He has traveled the world extensively and has served as CEO and president of mid-tier companies.