What struck this observer at Monday’s annual Memorial Day Service, sponsored as it has been for some years now on the Courthouse Green by American Legion Post 215, is how similar each year’s ceremony is.

And I mean that in a good way. Memorial Day is a day of remembrance and respect, a solemn, somber ceremony of commemoration.

And there’s something very comforting in knowing that each year one can count on the members of the Post to put together a simple, dignified program, always featuring an interesting guest speaker, to honor the men and women who have given their lives in defense of the nation.

This year’s ceremony, about an hour in length or perhaps a bit shorter, was again well attended. Once again a military color guard presented the colors at the beginning of the program. Once again the Dockside Harmony Quartet provided patriotic music. Once again the POW-MIA flag was laid in memory of those unaccounted for. Once again the Ladies Auxiliary laid a wreath at the courthouse monument.

And once again, a distinguished speaker reminded the considerable crowd who braved the heat that we owe those who sacrificed a debt.

It’s a debt best repaid by doing the very things they fought and died to preserve, that is exercising our rights as free citizens in a free country, taking part in the civic discourse on public policy, speaking out to government at all levels when we have concerns and voting in each and every election.

Citizens of many nations don’t have these rights. That we do is a tribute to the authors of the founding documents, The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution and its various amendments. We must never let the exercise of these rights atrophy, for if we should, no memorial service, however flashy or showy, could do justice to those who sacrificed so that we might enjoy them.

So perhaps, in the midst of what promises to be an active, perhaps rather contentious election season, Memorial Day is one occasion around which all can unite to affirm the fundamental character of the nation and acknowledge how fortunate we are to be its citizens.

And so it’s comforting to attend the ceremony each year. The continuity of its structure and its simple dignity are all that’s needed to remind us to do our duty as free citizens and carry on with the exercise of the rights the fallen fought to preserve.

We’re the lucky ones – thanks to them.