Thread by @myth_pilot

Reflecting this Memorial Day. I want to tell you about America's secret Constitution, buried at Arlington Cemetery in the Tomb of the Unknowns. /T/

The Tomb of the Unknowns, dedicated in 1921, is a monument in Arlington Virginia dedicated to the memory of all American soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen.

Out of honor for the dead, the Tomb of the Unknowns has been kept under 24 hour guard, day and night, in every season, even through the attacks of Sept 11th. The Old Guard, a special unit of hand-picked soldiers, has kept this watch continually and without fail since 1937.

The Tomb takes the idea that the anonymity of the dead who lie at rest lets them stand for all of us. It could be any mother's son interred within. Therefore, honor to these few is honor to all those who fell in service to our nation through all of history.

On the side is written, simply:

"HERE RESTS IN
HONORED GLORY
AN AMERICAN SOLDIER
KNOWN BUT TO GOD"

The Tomb of the Unknowns was inspired by a similar monument in France to memorialize WW1. I think it is no surprise that we looked to adopt these same symbols of after our first European war. America was now an empire, and would honor its dead like an empire.

The tradition of repatriation of the dead stretches back to ancient Rome, and before. In the Roman household, the dead were connected to the land; they sacralized it and served as conduit to the gods. To say "fatherland" meant literally "land where my fathers are buried."

Therefore, for an expeditionary nation, recovery of the dead is a religious obligation. If you know how Americans fight, you know we believe this too. Our highest principle is to bring every man home, whatever the cost. No matter what.

It is absolutely common in battle accounts of WW2, Korea, and especially Vietnam, for commanders to commit to untenable fights because a scouting party had left KIA. We are willing to suffer more casualties in order to recover our dead. Always.

The Tomb of the Unknowns represents this promise. So long as this infinite commitment is cultivated, in our hearts, at our tombs, in the heat of battle, America will continue to exist.

This is where the best of us is buried, America at her most pious, most resolute, most capable, most fearsome, most noble.

To me, this is America's real Constitution, in the original sense of the word. In England, the "constitution" was a gathering of the people, as in literally in a field. They were "constituted." The word "constituency" retains this original sense.

As we know, America is not a piece of paper. America is a people. A people who built a nation out of a wilderness where there wasn't one before, who lived and died and fought for her. We were always a nation at war, right from the beginning, so the Tomb is us. It's who we are.

This is the meaning of the Tomb. It's the heart of America, now and forever. In a land with no common creed, it's where all Americans are eternally spiritually gathered: by our common respect for our dead. Come what may, this will always be the spiritual center of our nation.

That's why it's our Constitution, because we are spiritually "constituted," or made into one body by this symbol which unites us and the ideals it represents. This binding force, our impulse to honor these fragile remains, is infinitely more powerful than any legal convention.

As this Memorial Day winds to a close, take a moment to remember the fallen, and pray that we might live up to their example and faithfully preserve their memory. We are a young nation still. We'll have need of their strength in the years to come. God bless.