Remembrance at Thebes

Sunday during Memorial Day weekend, I was sitting in the heart of American history. No, it wasn't Concord or Lexington, or at the old North Church. It was actually during church services in an old courthouse on the bluffs overlooking the mighty Mississippi River in the heart of America; Thebes, Illinois, where Abraham Lincoln had practiced as a young lawyer in his circuit of Southern Illinois.

As I sat there during the service, my mind was not concentrating on the words of Ezekiel by the minister, it was the history resonating from the walls of the old courthouse that kept calling for my attention.

My eyes were on the mural on the wall where the paintings of Lincoln, Dred Scott and other historical figures were hanging. I also knew I was sitting directly above the dungeon where Dred Scott, who many believe was responsible for Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation Address a couple of years later, was imprisoned for a time prior to his trial in St. Louis.

As I sat there in that old courthouse, I knew that this is what Memorial Day is all about. Not just the gathering at picnics for beer and hot dogs, but for religious services and the remembrances of those, their time and their sacrifices, especially our fallen military men and women who gave their all to make our America the greatest nation the world had ever known.

God bless them all, and God bless America.

Gene N. Isom, Olive Branch, Illinois