Memorial Day is particularly aggressive in the United States. And passionate and emotional. Some parts of it rub me the wrong way. I saw a pickup truck peeling down the highway flying two big American flags and I instantly recoiled. This tribute, on the other hand, on the lawn of a progressive old church in Cold Spring, NY, resonated. It paid remembrance to local men who died in uniform from the Civil war to Viet Nam and later. It's often said that those who died in combat died so we could be free, which seems a very Christian way of putting it and is similarly symbolized by the cross. But that doesn't seem quite right. In some cases, and with some wars, men died for mistaken assumptions and blunders. What is true is that they gave their lives in the belief that their sacrifice was worthwhile, or at the very least, that being put in harm's way paid tribute to a universal idea of humanity in the face of barbarism that transcends any symbol or flag.