Rant #3,139: Requiem For the Masses

It is Thursday, the Thursday before the Memorial Day weekend, and I know that that weekend has already started for many people.

There are many more cars on the road, there are more people in the stores, there appears to be more hustle and bustle on the streets, and a lot of people are wearing their more summer-geared clothing, including shorts, even though it is only in the 70s outside.

Memorial Day has become the beginning of summer for many of us, even though, in actuality, summer is still a couple of weeks away.

But Memorial Day is more than the pathway into summer, and we should know that, but due to our propensity to gloss over things when it comes to a real holiday and its true meaning, it is not surprising that many people don’t have a clue about what Memorial Day really means.

Let’s go back to what I said about the holiday and its true meaning. Here is an edited version of what I wrote about the holiday in Rant #970, May 24, 2013:

“Coming up on Monday is Memorial Day, the day we honor those who have served, and gave their lives, for our country in the numerous wars we have fought leading up to our country's creation in 1776 and beyond.

Once known as Decoration Day, the holiday falls every year on the last Monday in May.

In recent years--or for as long as I can remember--Memorial Day has taken on a different meaning.

Not to knock our service men and women--who continue to protect our country from unimaginable peril each and every day--the holiday means so many other things now.

First of all, many of us have off on that day.

Memorial Day also signals the beginning of the summer season.

Notice I say "the summer season," because summer actually doesn't come for several weeks after, in late June. But it signals warmth, hot nights and days, and so the holiday is thought of as sort of a gateway to summer and all the fun that that season brings.

And finally, Memorial Day generally signifies the day when many of us have our very first barbecue of the year.

Honestly, I can taste those hot dogs right now!

Many parades are held during this holiday, and most of them are seemingly precursors to barbecues, so even if we honor our war dead--and again, this is not a knock against any of our service people--we gradually move toward family oriented events during the holiday.

This makes Memorial Day one of the most family oriented holidays on the calendar, and a day we can all look forward to.”

So Memorial Day is actually the day we honor our war dead, and not the day that we have the day off and barbecue and wear our flip flops.

It is a much more solemn event than some would have us believe, but due to their ultimate sacrifices, we are able to have the day off, barbecue and take it easy—

Because those brave soldiers gave their lives so we could live our lives that way we want to.

And we all should know that, but I don’t think that we do.

Perhaps that is part of the equation for Memorial Day—to make their ultimate sacrifices almost transparent, so the general populace can do what they want in their lives.

This year, in both Nassau and Suffolk counties, there will be a moment of remembrance celebrated during the actual day of the holiday.

Taking a cue for the moment of silence that Israel has instituted each year on Holocaust Day, each of the counties have asked citizens to take a moment during the holiday to stop what they are doing and recognize those service members who died defending our freedoms.

In Israel, everything literally comes to a stop during that moment … people get out of their cars, people stop walking, people stop doing everything they are doing to remember the day.

I doubt that will be so all-encompassing here, but it is a wonderful idea, going well beyond barbecues and baseball and swimming and really honoring the memory of those who have perished defending our freedoms.

I have no idea what my family will be doing on that day—my wife is still recovering from her fall, my son has the day off, and since I work for a government-related entity, so will I—but even if we do nothing at all, that is our right.

Others will have their barbecues, will be able to go swimming, will meet up with friends and relatives … and that is their right too.

And whether you look at this as the beginning of summer or as a day of remembrance, that is yoiur right too.

That is the great thing about the holiday; you can handle it however you want to handle it—

But again, it all leads back to the same thing: if it weren’t for our service members who made the ultimate sacrifice, this day would not exist, and more importantly, the freedoms we have to do what we want to do would not be possible.