Forty years ago today, on May 25, 1986, America paused and did something that still feels unreal today.
More than six million people stepped out of their homes, their routines, their differences, and reached for the hand of a stranger. From New York City to Long Beach, California, a living human chain stretched across the nation. It crossed busy streets, quiet towns, open farmland, dry desert, and winding rivers. For fifteen minutes, the country was physically connected, heart to heart.
This was Hands Across America. It was not owned by politicians or corporations. It belonged to regular people. Parents holding children. Grandparents standing tall. Factory workers, farmers, students, nurses, and veterans. Some stood under the hot sun. Others felt the wind coming off the water. All of them shared one purpose, to stand against hunger and homelessness and to say that no one should be forgotten.
Yes, famous faces like Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie helped draw attention. But the real power came from the millions who showed up without cameras on them. People who believed that showing up still mattered. People who believed that unity was not a slogan but an action.
The event raised money for food banks and housing programs, but that was only part of the story. The deeper impact was emotional. It reminded a divided nation that compassion could still move faster than fear. That ordinary Americans, when linked together, could create something bold, visible, and unforgettable.
Many who were there still remember the feeling of that hand in theirs. Warm. Steady. Human. In a time when it feels like we are being pulled apart, that memory still burns in our chest. America once reached out and held itself together. And the truth is, we can do it again.
What are YOU saying and doing TODAY, MEMORIAL DAY, 2026 to make this happen again in America?
It was 160 years ago today that – the First Memorial Day happened! It was a spring morning in 1866, just after the Civil War that had devastated the South. A group of Southerners did something quite extraordinary. They marched down the streets of what was left of their town to a cemetery. There they decorated the graves of the soldiers. ALL the soldiers — Union soldiers as well as Confederate soldiers.
The mothers and daughters and widows had buried their dead. Now they buried their hatred. The time for healing had come. It was the First Memorial Day. After 160 years, this is what America desperately needs to do again – To bury our hatred for one another. We need to tell our leaders to do what Abraham Lincoln did before he died – to show mercy, forgiveness and compassion to all of his enemies.
Have you ever wondered why Memorial Day is marked in May? Its date doesn’t recall some historic battle. Or the start of some war. Or the signing of an armistice. Why, then, May?
For a very practical reason. Because it is a time when flowers bloom. Flowers bloom because someone planted seeds. America blooms when we demand our leaders to plant seeds of mercy, forgiveness and compassion.
What are YOU doing this Memorial Day that people did in 1866, 160 years ago today that made America the great country it is today?
How wonderful it would be if each one of us this Memorial Day would put our own political hatred to rest and bind up our nation’s wounds…..
WHEN YOU ARE FEELING POLITICAL HATRED TOWARD ANOTHER PERSON, TALK TO THE MAN WHO IS WEARING THE NAIL HOLES AND THE SCARS!
The last few years I have tossed and turned at night, worrying that we have forgotten what America is all about. I’M A DOER, NOT A TALKER. So I wrote WHAT MAKES AMERICA AMERICA.
I have 62 short Chapters that look at every aspect of life in America, from Disney World to the Supreme Court. Here is the link https://a.co/d/00Lyqe1C that will connect you with my Amazon page. Click READ SAMPLE and you can read as many as 13 Chapters of my book for FREE. It’s a great way to celebrate America’s 250th.
