Traditional U.S. Military Funeral Service

Image by Wikimedia Commons

Can you resist feeling moved when you hear the fire of the three-gun salute and the playing of Taps at a military funeral service?

When I hear that — even when I see it in a movie! — I can’t help but tear up and feel some innate swelling of pride. Playing the Taps and firing those shots are a powerful way of honoring everything good that someone did in life — whether they died in battle or haven’t seen action for decades.

It’s touching to see someone’s life honored so beautifully. You might react the same way to a less traditional funeral service, a piece of memorial artwork, or the loving words in a eulogy. But those gun shots and the sound of the bugle are so widely-recognized in America that few of us could hear them without being moved or thinking of someone we’ve lost.

This honorable reflection is exactly what every memorial is meant to invoke.

Annually in the U.S., we observe Memorial Day to remember the men and women who have died serving in our armed forces. While you’re enjoying a three-day weekend, hauling out the grill, and squeezing into last year’s bathing suit, take a moment this weekend to reflect on those lives lost serving our country.

Listen to a recording of Taps, and ponder how you can honor the lives of loved ones you’ve lost — or those over the years with an equally-evocative memorial.