Archive: Opinions

Last week Governor Cuomo issued a proclamation recognizing POW/MIA Recognition Day.  Cuomo joined most US governors in paying tribute to members of our armed forces who never came back.  In the grand scheme of things, does the proclamation matter?  Well, yes.

In an age where so many emotional click-bait sob stories are overused  -- the repeated contestant sob stories on television talent shows, and the myriad of similar stories that are hyped to promote one cause or another in the so-called news -- the stories that matter are minimized.  That should not be the case when we're talking about people who put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms.

The symbolic Watch Fire each year at Myers Park is one of the most moving experiences I have ever witnessed.  It celebrates National POW/MIA Recognition Day, symbolizing Watch Fires that would guide soldiers who had become separated from their fellow service people back to their units.  The idea is that no person is left behind, and veterans across the nation remember those lost and the efforts to find them, alive or dead.


The event includes veterans, active duty military people, and ROTC students -- the past, present, and future of America's first line of defense.  Even for non-military people it is an evening of respect for the huge risks our military service people sign up for and the sacrifices they and their families have made.  It is the same each year - an explanation of the event, a prayer, patriotic songs, a featured speaker, veterans lined up with flags on one side and troops of ROTC members in formation.  And the fire, which everyone present is invited to throw a log on, symbolically calling our missing soldiers home.

You might argue that proclamations are just political pieces of paper that nobody pays attention to.  That may be true.  But has symbolism become so overused that when it really means something it no longer means anything?

Governor Cuomo's press representative sent me a copy of the proclamation.  New York's proclamation recognizes the late Senator John McCain, 140,000 American prisoners of war, over 82,000 still missing from World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam War, the Cold War era, and military operations in Iraq and the Persian Gulf.  It also says a POW-MIA Chair of honor has been installed in the lobby of the New York State Capitol.

Maybe proclamations are something nobody pays attention to, but sometimes something really has to be said.  Another New York proclamation this month declared 2018 is the Year of the Bird.  And a proclamation issued Wednesday declared September 26th School Breakfast Day.  I am not sure whether that is on the same level of the importance meter as people who are not only willing to die for their country's core beliefs, but actually do die.  Not that I don't like birds.  And they say breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  

But if an official recognition of birds and breakfast is justified, then certainly a great big official thank you on parchment signed by the Governor to honor fellow citizens who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the rest of us goes beyond being merely symbolic.  We should all be thinking about those who went either missing or dead while in uniform.  Also birds, but -- much, much more -- soldiers, and really, every soldier and veteran.  Every single one, living and dead.


When proclamations spew out of Albany (and other capitals) about so many varied causes it isn't easy to find meaning in them.  Oh, a proclamation?  That's nice.  And we move on without giving much thought to what they proclaim.  Shouldn't there be a way to focus attention on the really important ones?  Not that birds aren't important.  But aside from canaries in coal mines I don't see a lot of birds making the ultimate sacrifice for humanity.  And what about all the rabbits that gave their lives to determine whether women were pregnant?  Still doesn't rise to the level of the contribution and sacrifices of our military.

In researching a story about last Friday's annual POW/MIA Watch Fire event at Myers Park, I noticed that on the National League of POW/MIA Families Web site New York was among 15 states that were not listed as having issued proclamations commemorating the day (it has since been added).  I reached out to Governor Cuomo's press office and learned that he actually did sign a proclamation last week.  I searched more extensively and found evidence that all but six states had issued proclamations.

Most of the states, the District of Columbia, Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam (out of 52) issued proclamations this year.  They include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.  And the President of the United States.

I couldn't find anything that said Delaware, Idaho, Louisiana, New Jersey, Texas, or Wyoming had issued proclamations.  That doesn't necessarily mean they didn't -- the Internet is not infallible.  But wouldn't it be great if it turned out that all 50 states have done it?

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