From Normandy to Now: How the Spirit of D-Day Urges Us to Defend Democracy Today
by Annette Dion
“To know that even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived, this is to have succeeded.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
There were two images from the 80th anniversary commemorative service held in Normandy on Thursday that will remain forever etched in my mind. There are certain “screenshot” situations in life that your mind will never “unsee”. These were definitely two of them for me.
In the face of what we have been, and continue to be facing in the United States; the rise and very real encroachment of an authoritarian takeover pounding away at our democracy right now, I needed to bear witness to these freeze-frame moments.
In fact, I think that we ALL did. I believe that we needed to see and feel the authenticity of the human condition; powerful depictions of what it truly means to be a human being.
I feel that we need to be reminded that we truly are all world people, connected by the common denominator of sharing this planet together and knowing that unquestioning love and devotion to helping one another; helping humanity, is the only real truth, and the only thing that matters.
We needed to see one person, one who holds the most powerful office in the world, reach out publicly, selflessly, and say to another this sentiment: “Your life, and what you did in your life, mattered. You got it right. You did something that will ripple out through the ages and make all the difference for future generations to come.”
The dignified moments were there for all to see. Or, let me rephrase that, for all that the mainstream media decided to bring attention to, highlight and allow more people to see.
We saw our President Joseph R Biden speaking with a WWII veteran, a man who might now be 100 years old or at least very close to it, who had stormed the beaches of Normandy as a very young man on that fateful D-day of June 7th, 1944.
Our President greeted him, shared some kind words, and then with a genuine authenticity and appreciation that felt so thick you could cut it with a knife, leaned in and said, almost in a whisper to this veteran: “You did it. You saved civilization”.
I think my heart stopped for a second.
What a gift. What an incredible and priceless gift he gave to this WWII veteran, one who will be approaching the final day of his life in the not too far-off future.
What an overwhelming moment.
“In their generation, in their hour of trial, the Allied forces of D-Day did their duty. Now we are facing down the question for our own time in world history: In our hour of trial, will we do ours? We’re living in a time when democracy is more at risk across the world than at any point…since these beaches were stormed in 1944. Now, we have to ask ourselves: Will we stand against tyranny, against evil, against crushing brutality of the iron fist?
Will we stand for freedom? Will we defend democracy? Will we stand together?” President Biden asks us.
Just moments later, President Zelenskyy, a man who I am sure never expected to be leading his country through a horrific war, now feeling endless, started by evil and murderous dictator Putin, was also seen speaking to a WWII veteran who was in a wheelchair. All eyes at the event, more and more, turned to the quiet scene that was unfolding on the large screen. The profundity of this moment was so close to the bone, so deeply moving, you could tell that when people started to catch it, things kind of went still. Both men appeared to be holding back huge tears. You could tell.
Slowly, after some time, as more and more awareness arose of the scene unfolding, the audience started applauding.
To think about the shared human condition that both men had been through; that they had tossed away any selfish ideas about at which level of involvement to engage in war…. to consider that they made the choice to save their people and humanity from further genocide and tyranny was just overpowering. It was enormous.
Those were two “mic drop” moments that could be seen and felt around the world, as did our President’s speech that day, and the day after.
But the mainstream media in America, in the country that the rest of the world has looked to as the #1 beacon for a working democracy, and the number one ally they have always been able to count on to always lead the fight for democracy, the birthright of all peoples to live free from tyranny, apparently the American media didn’t think it was that big of a deal.
To my mind, it is the ONLY deal. We are staring down an existential threat to our existence.
To the mainstream corporate media, who have apparently lost their sense of what it is to be a human, what actually MATTERS, what unfolded in Normandy on Thursday and Friday was apparently not all that important.
Instead, what we got was “light coverage”.
In this GIANT moment in history, mainstream media turned away. The media was demonstrably more hell-bent on attempting to distract us and dissuade us from seeing the events and their magnitude.
Dull it down. Dumb us down. Make us not feel. (Insert pharmaceutical drug commercial here).
If there is one great disservice that is happening in this country that supersedes all others; and there are many, many others, the one that is doing the greatest damage to our democracy and power-to-the-people, is the withholding and distortion of critical and important information by mainstream media.
I actually recently heard that Rupert Murdoch, supporter and creator of “tyranny media” ( I just made that term up), FOX “faux” news, has been buying up publications like the NY Times and others.
Although I have not “fact checked” this yet, by many appearances, it is believable.
Corporate media is run by six conglomerates whose goal is to make sure they do NOT inspire people to take up their mantel, and live according to what they feel and believe is right and true for them. Malignant greed is not there to motivate us to care for and look after one another, and to make the world a better place. Democracy is.
As a side note, just think about the historic level of natural disasters in the form of countless tornados that have wreaked havoc on millions of peoples’ lives over the past weeks. How come we are hearing so little about it? Corporate media, directly or indirectly, is leaning into support of the rise of tyranny. The rise of a tyrant is accompanied by a sense of “just look to the ‘fixer’, i.e. the dictator, to ‘fix’ it”, don’t look to our democratic ideals of helping one another. Some of the media are clearly doing this consciously.
Others are just falling in line.
The corporate media is invested in making sure that we don’t see the good. Greed has overtaken it to the point of pathos, to say the least. If you think about where we USED to be, and where we are now, you will see it.
That Joseph R Biden’s presence at the 80th anniversary of D-Day, his speeches and the events that went on there on Thursday, weren’t just about the only thing that you saw in the news, is in very stark contrast to what would have happened several years ago.
They would have covered it. They would have covered it ALL DAY.
It is up to us to speak out now. This IS our moment. As much as the media continues to gaslight and hide the truth from us, we are presently close enough to the truth right now that we are able to call them out. Write to these networks, repeatedly. Say that you will boycott watching them anymore unless they stop this behavior. Do not let up.
As much as so many of them are slanting into a “Russian State TV” or North Korea isolationist-style media there is still time for us to hold fast to and insist on the truth and covering the stories that matter to save our democracy. It HAS to happen right now, because as the authoritarian movement gets stronger it will take away the truth more and more. The ACTUAL truth. We must resist.
When our President gives a speech that is reminiscent of President John F Kennedy’s inaugural address, in which Kennedy called on Americans to “Ask not what your country can do for you, but for what you can do for your country,” in a functioning democracy, we all need to hear that speech.
These are the very messages we NEED right now. Not to have them hidden from us.
We have to be singing the same song. DEMOCRACY MATTERS. TRUTH MATTERS. HUMANITY MATTERS.
It is TRUTH, the actual Truth, that will set us all free.
Thank you, WWII veterans. You did the job. We will take it from here.
Godspeed.
What did YOU think about the D-day 80th year commemorative event? What do you feel that you can do to save our democracy? Leave me a comment.
Each Saturday from 430-6p ET, our group meets online to take action to save our democracy. I invite you to join us. Don't know what to work on? No problem ! We will help you! Email grassrootsofdemocracy@gmail.com to express your interest and to receive the Zoom information.