The
O'Coin/
Reizner Wedding Site
Invocation For The
Vietnam Memorial Wall
Ella Sharp Park, Jackson, Michigan
Sunday July 2, 2000
Let us pray,
Lord, you have given a genuine power to words and ideals.
Today we stand before the Vietnam Memorial Wall. It holds the names of those fell in the service of freedom during that conflict.
Their names...
A name is the identifier that parents give to their unique child. It is chosen with care. Usually it is forged in love, even if the circumstances of the child are not fortunate. A name is
a mark and a unique connection. But it is not just a connection to parents and ancestors. It is much more. A name transcends the mere words that appear on the elementary school record or the military "dog tag".
As the child grows his horizons expand. They encompass more and more people, touching more and more other souls. These events add to and forever change his or her immediate world. It also adds to and changes the collective world we
all live in. This appears to be a universal truth.
In the ancient world to possess another person’s name was to have power over him. In the famous dialogue between Moses and the burning bush, Moses tries in vain to get God’s name. There
is a deep lesson in why he cannot. In the modern world a name can find a person, can unlock a corporate door. To hear a name can immediately bring a conscious recognition. Association with a name can bring pride. . . shame . . . honor . . . access . . . or denial to the
associate. We appreciate that a name is still power. If we think about it, this is a reality and not an ancient superstition.
In a mystical, but none the less real way, we each carry with us the power to access and preserve those who have touched our personal lives. While the experience for any one of US is likely to be more powerful if we have personal memories to recall, the conscious act is not
diminished for those we did not personally know. We are but half of the spiritual equation. Though sometimes painful for us, it is an exercise of the divine spirit you have placed in each of your children.
Jewish tradition teaches that . . . in addition to any other afterlife - the spirits of those passed on live in the hearts and minds of those who preserve their memory. Lord, we ask you to give us the simple insight and courage to
reflect in our hearts upon these names. Allow us in some small measure give honor to them for their individual gifts to us.
Our hearts may ask, . . .To what purpose have our brothers and sisters fallen?. . . For the answer we look to You and to their individual acts of heroism, compassion and simple duty.
In the face of horrible destruction and death a person may ask, . . .I am but one, what difference can I make? . .. Jewish tradition teaches that to save the life of a single person is the same as saving the entire world.
The men and women, whose names are before you today, each marched forth onto the field of conflict not so long ago and in his or her own way forever changed our world. We are in their debt. We miss them in our lives.
We know the wall before us is not a replica. The treasure in names it holds is painfully real. We pray together today to honor these men and women and all who are called upon to
give as Lincoln said the "last full measure ... so that others could be free". We pray to focus our lives this afternoon to remember and respect them.
(Brocha in Hebrew) Blessed are You, Lord, King of all the world, who has preserved us, kept us and brought us to this time.
In the Lord’s name we say. Amen