Memorial Day and the Importance of Difficult Challenges
- Ben Schafer
- May 25
- 3 min read
Memorial Day 2026 finds the United States of America in a place of deep division, confusion, and misunderstanding of ourselves, each other, and our shared history. The far Left has renewed its decades-long assault on the idea that there is anything in America worth celebrating, but more troubling is the surge in pseudo-populist drivel from figures on the supposed Right attacking the idea that America has a right to assert its interests on the world stage or even asserting that the Founding was a catastrophic error leading to all our present ills. Common among all these critiques of America is the idea we face problems now not because we live in a fallen world where suffering must be endured and overcome but because the utopia we should be in has been taken from us. This is false, it is dangerous, and it undermines the sacrifices of those who brought us this far. The very fact that we live in a society as peaceful, sophisticated, and comfortable as modern America is only due to the tremendous sacrifice not only of the courageous men and women who laid down their lives in military service, but also to the daily sacrifices and hard work of millions of people doing their small but vital part in their own lives.
Listen to critiques of the American economy, foreign policy, or entertainment and you will quickly find a pattern: something bad has happened (be it a company laying off employees, a terrorist attack, or the underwhelming release of a new big-budget franchise film) and now there are hundreds of pundits and influencers making YouTube videos and podcasts about how it's the fault of some particular group of nefarious actors trying to ruin everything. While it is true that nefarious actors are at work in the world, the brutal truth is that doing anything worthwhile is extraordinarily difficult. The problem is that we, as a society, have become so successful that we take success for granted and treat any resistance or obstacle not as part of the struggle to overcome but as a sign that something has gone terribly wrong. This is dangerous thinking for any society and for any individual, and it leads to unrealistic expectations and ingratitude.
As an author who is extremely interested in inspiring and assisting other creatives, I also see this trend at work in the cultural sphere, where it saps away the joy and energy that keeps people engaged in their work. Any artistic endeavor is highly difficult to do well, requiring a delicate mixture of technical proficiency and undefinable personal spark of imagination. The tech-bro types believe that this slow and painful process of human creativity can now be replaced by generative AI programs that can produce any piece of art at the push of a button (or so they promise). This misses the point of art. Art, like life, is meant to be difficult. The struggle is how you grow, and overcoming each challenge on the path is what strengthens and sharpens you to conquer the next one. In The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis describes Heaven as being so fundamentally real, so solid, that frail human spirits must be given small incremental challenges to become strong enough just to be able to set foot on the grass. This is such a beautiful image of the truth of the world. The difficulties in life aren't meant to break you. They're meant to give you the strength to push forward, to overcome, to seek the next challenge, and to help the person beside you going through his or her own troubles. The reward is a grander, fuller life than you could have imagined, even if it comes with pain.
This Memorial Day, and for every day moving forward, do yourself and your community a favor. Do the hard thing. Hold on to that relationship when it would be easy to let it slip away. Choose to be kind and forgiving when the anger feels so much simpler. Stop daydreaming about the great idea you'll get to "someday" and pick up the pen, the brush, or the microphone. And choose, actively choose, to be grateful for the sacrifices made by people you will never know that allow you to enjoy the blessings in your life. Happy Memorial Day.
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