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blogging, culture, faith, family, history, insanitybytes22, Memorial Day
“Happy Memorial Day,” that always sounds like such an odd thing to say, as if pausing to remember those who have lost their lives serving our country is somehow a happy thing. Families often take this 3 day weekend to BBQ and camp out, lending a festive air to what has become a ritual first day of summer celebration.
Memorial Day in America is about life and life abundant, about family and play and sunshine, all the things that make life good, and perhaps that is exactly as it should be. There are somber moments sometimes, pause and reflection, memories of lost loved ones, graves tended to carefully, but for the most part people are going about the business of living, with some exuberance.
Memorial Day in America is a day of paradoxes, of living life and remembering what is truly important, while we also remember those who are no longer with us, those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom.
John 15:13 reminds us, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” So many have taken great risk, have given their all to teach us the truth of those words in a very personal way, to help us to understand that there really are some things worth dying for, and in the process we learn that there are things worth living for, too. Why they fight is also why we live.
There are some things so important that people would sacrifice everything for them, even their own lives, and we honor that sacrifice by showing the world there are some things worth living for, too.
As I have been taught to do since the beginning of time, Memorial Day is not Veteran’s Day, it is not the day we thank people for their service to our country, it is the day we remember our dead and the terrible price of war. Memorial Day is rooted in Decoration Day, in the Civil War and in our nation’s history.
“We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. … Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.” -Gen Logan, 1858
Let us never forget the cost of a free and undivided republic.
See, there's this thing called biology... 
I have never read a better tribute to Memorial Day than yours! Great job!
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Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it.
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Well said, IB!
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I so enjoy reading your thoughts. I have thoughts that don’t feel the same after my attempts to capture them on paper.
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Amen. Well said. I guess it’s kind of like calling the day Jesus was horribly beaten and crucified, “GOOD Friday.” It’s a paradox and a constant reminder that freedom isn’t free, it always costs someone dearly. But i’s also epitomizes other-centered, self-giving love.
Blessings to you and your tribe on Memorial Day!
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Good post!
Some people try to make Memorial Day into something solemn. I suppose there is a place for solemn, but our boys did not die to make America into a land of solemn, long-faced, humorless souls.
I heard one of the radio talk show guys discuss the same paradox. He brought up a little story about a Memorial Day in the past. Some children got into Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, and their parents did not think it appropriate to the occasion. An old vet told them to let the children play. He said they fought so the children could play. That made sense to me. The beautiful sound I have ever heard is when my children laughed. I just hope they keep the water in the Reflecting Pool clean enough for kids to wade in it.
🙂
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Well said, Tom! Happy Memorial Day to you and yours.
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And a Blessed Memorial Day to you and yours.
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Great Logan quote.
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I agree. It is perhaps a kind of Tale of Two Worlds. Like the difference between the commercial Christmas and the religious Christmas; the commercial Easter, and the religious Resurrection Day.
What I’d list as the “as is” holidays include New Year’s Day, Independence Day, and Thanksgiving Day.
I’d describe Labor Day as a partially “forgotten purpose” holiday – the first Monday in September, to honor the contributions of American workers. For most people, it marks a kind of transition from summer activities to fall activities including the return to school or college, as a final break before settling in to focus on education or jobs. I must mention May Day – May 1st – as a “failed holiday” – with Labor Day, because it is celebrated in other countries similarly to our Labor Day here in the US, but here is for the celebration of Spring – opposed to by some Christians as a pagan holiday with some activities too similar to the commercial version of Easter, not an official holiday and has since around 1970 vanished from most US calendars.
Memorial Day, celebrated the last Monday in May, Memorial Day is the holiday set aside to pay tribute to those who died serving in the military. The website for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs recounts the start of Memorial Day this way: “Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country.” The passage of the National Holiday Act of 1971 by Congress made it an official holiday.
There are similarities between Memorial Day and Veterans Day, with Veterans Day being more specific. That federal holiday falls on November 11 and is designated as a day to honor all who have served in the military. According to Military.com, Veterans Day began as Armistice Day to honor the end of World War I, which officially took place on November 11, 1918. “In 1954, after having been through both World War II and the Korean War, the 83rd U.S. Congress — at the urging of the veterans service organizations — amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word “Armistice” and inserting the word “Veterans,” the site says. “With the approval of this legislation on June 1, 1954, November 11 became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.” Unlike Memorial Day, it is not a day or weekend off for most Americans. It is my opinion that these two holidays could be combined – or – make Veterans Day the primary for the military, Memorial Day for everyone else – and combine Memorial Day with the May Day celebration of spring and the commercial version of Easter separate from Resurrection Day specifically for Christians. Likewise separating the commercial Christmas as a winter celebration with the religious Christmas to celebrate the birth of Christ – for which some believe to have happened during summer (August) rather than winter (December).
I’d favor making every Monday a holiday to establish a 4-day work week for most Americans, a 3-day weekend to be especially good for families. For parents who have to work during the weekend, there would be schools with a weekend schedule so the children are in school when their parents are at work, and have the same days off as their parents. As is, some months have too many holidays and a few have no holidays, so I would at least be in favor of spreading out the holidays to be one for each month as a 3-day holiday weekend with Friday or Monday off.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Even so, what if those “friends” would not do the same for you? I’ve known such, including those who would happily accept help in time if need but would never return the favor in your time of need. Perhaps that’s the true test – helping those who are not actual enemies but who would not give you the time of day if their lives depended on it. I do agree with the gist of the words of General Patton that we should help our enemies to die for their cause while we live for our cause. The problem today is an enemy who sees dying for their cause to be a benefit if they can make more of us die in the process – one of them for a hundred of us as a fair trade. We are Life flowers and they are Antilife weeds in the Garden of Good and Evil.
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I forgot to mention in my previous lengthy comment Halloween aka All Hallows Eve aka All Saints Day apart from the pagan meaning and commercial purpose there being a nearly forgotten religious purpose – as a Christian festival celebrated in honor of all the saints. It is on the calendar, but is not a holiday – like Valentine’s Day is on the calendar but is not a holiday. Not a holiday for everyone and not a federal holiday. Maybe they should become 3-day weekend holidays, with such lacking in February and October. Imagine the commercial boost for a 3-day Valentine getaway trip to romantic places. Of all the designations on our calendars, March, June, and August also lacking. Presidents Day as a federal holiday I consider to be the most useless and the most irritating with government offices closed, no mail delivery, and banks closed. If anyone feels the need to celebrate the birth of a President, then perhaps such should be included with Independence Day. Likewise, Martin Luther King Day as a January 15 federal holiday but not a day off for everyone, to become part of Independence Day to celebrate freedom. Our government has given itself too many holidays with days off not granted to most Americans – and reminds me of how Congress takes way too much time off including week-long holidays. What’s right for the government should be right for everyone.
Memorial Day can be “Happy” and that is to be happy for those who are in a better place now, having given up only their physical bodies, their souls living on in a spiritual heaven. Perhaps comparable to wishing a Happy All Saints Day if we expand the meaning of saints to celebrating the good deeds of people throughout history whose lives were and still are good examples to follow. Then instead of wearing masks of horrors as if to make evil a fun thing, wear masks and costumes of those good people who made a difference for the better. MLK could be one of them. The pagan side to celebrate life – celebrate spring – on May Day, may justify in balance an autumn holiday to celebrate those who have departed to a better place, to celebrate autumn in October in the northern hemisphere. Pagan is not necessarily a bad thing if celebrating life rather than antilife. Halloween can be fun without the fear, horror, and violent antilife elements.
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Good tribute.
“As I have been taught to do since the beginning of time, Memorial Day is not Veteran’s Day, it is not the day we thank people for their service to our country, it is the day we remember our dead and the terrible price of war”<–Exactly.
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