Memorial Day — parade day on
Main Street — bands marching to
Sousa, flags waving, guys squeezing

into mothballed dress uniforms, the
remaining vets of World War II hobbl-
ing down the street, lifting canes in

appreciation, being pushed in wheel-
chairs, riding in Corvette Stingrays
while people along the curbs cheer

and wave small American flags — and
then everyone goes to a picnic — the
Memorial Day observance — a secular

ceremony of thanks for those who died
defending the country and then there
is the parade in one of our nation’s

most ethnically homogeneous, hyper-
religious communities where at the end
of the parade, the town’s people gather

in front of all the white crosses to hear
a speech invoking God’s will and bow in
prayer participating in an act of “civil

religion” when perhaps there should be
acts of civil disobedience for linking
war with God’s blessing.