An Honor Walk, also called a Hero Walk, is a relatively new kind of ceremony relating to organ donation. You may be aware that there is a crying need for organ donations in our country. As of 2022, there were more than 100,000 people on the national organ waiting list with an average of 17 people dying per day while waiting for a transplant. An individual donor can provide up to eight organs.
These solemn events begin when a patient had just died or is on life support with no chance for survival. The attending nurses, with the family and friends following behind them, wheel the patient on their stretcher to the O.R., or to a waiting ambulance. This ceremony gains its power from all the hospital staff, from janitors to executives, lining the halls and wordlessly standing in appreciation as the patient passes by. Those of you who have been inside large hospitals know that this can be quite a serpentine journey: up, down, and around hallways; in and out of elevators; through swinging doors, and the like. But everywhere the patient goes, there are people bearing silent witness and paying their respects.
Honor Walks came into public consciousness around 2019 and have started to spread among hospitals nationwide. An Honor Walk was featured on a TV episode of “Grey’s Anatomy.” Lately, tribute postings to YouTube have become common. I watched two such videos that were especially moving – both being broadcast segments from local TV news. In one posting, a Virginia father had lost two of his four children in a house fire, ages 3 and 6. In the other posting, a Nevada father had lost his teenaged son in a motorcycle accident. Below are the links, but I caution that viewing can be emotional:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phZ9JBhwQC4
What is the connection between Honor Walks and what we do as the Pennsylvania Mayflower Society? Our individual and organizational efforts are dedicated to preserving the memories of those who came before us, to benefit those who will come after us – a life-affirming endeavor. But instead of donating organs, we donate vital records, census records, military service records, gravestone photos, family photos, family bibles, and similar keepsakes. Instead of giving physical life or sight, we give meaning to lives and insight.
In the world of lineage societies like ours, you often hear the motto or mission statement, “to honor our ancestors.” That phrase comes off the tongue so quickly that it risks sounding a little glib, a little trite. Yet these Honor Walk videos help to bring this concept home and underscore what honoring people and their sacrifices is all about.
My wife is Ukrainian-American, and her family practiced an ethnic tradition during their breakfasts after Easter liturgy, when the symbolic food baskets of parishioners are blessed by the priest. They would set aside one extra table setting. They would begin their meal by taking a hard-boiled egg from their basket, cutting it into slices; and then passing it around to each family member or guest, leaving one slice upon the empty plate. While standing, they would recite a traditional Ukrainian blessing and prayer before eating their slices in unison. The extra table setting was to honor those deceased family members within memory who could not be with them in-person.
A full description of Ukrainian Easter traditions may be viewed here: https://ukrainianpeople.us/ukrainian-easter-traditions/.
For our Thanksgiving dinners, consider how we might honor our ancestors and their sacrifices. Please let our SMDPA newsletter editors know if your family has such ceremonies and traditions that it practices.
Best Regards,
James (Jim) Campbell SMDPA Governor [email protected]
