Counting The Cost

May 20th, 2009 |

Near a little community called Pleasant Hill, Tennessee on Highway 70 is small country church and large cemetery bearing the name Smith Chapel.  It is like countless others that dot the landscape all over the United States, but for me, this one is unique.  Many of my family members are buried there, including both sets of my grandparents, as well as my beloved dad who died several years ago.  As a child I remember going there to place flowers on graves once a year.  It was always held on the same Saturday and all kinds of folks would gather to “decorate the graves”.  It was a time not only to remember the dead, but also renew friendships with the living.  I began to hear the stories about family members who had died long before I was born.  Somehow this simple act of placing flowers on their graves kept their memories alive.  In that same vein, did you know that Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day?  The name was officially changed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the20Grand Army of the Republic, and was first observed May 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.  It is now celebrated it in almost every State on the last Monday in May in accordance with the National Holiday Act passed in 1971.  Unfortunately, for so many the true purpose of this holiday has been lost.  It has simply become a long weekend that is viewed as the unofficial start of summer.  At DeSoto Hills, we want to stop this Memorial Day to remember those who have given so much that we might continue to enjoy the freedoms associated with living in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Such freedom is a pricey thing.

Counting the cost,