Memorial Day...

I will admit it. I am old as dirt! As we approach Memorial Day weekend I am reflecting on the holiday's history for me. I am struck by how far we have come from embracing what this Monday ahead really means. When I was a pup the day was called Decoration Day. We learned it was originated to honor the heroes of the Civil War but since expanded to to honor WWI, WWII, and Korea's fallen soldiers. At the time no one really gave much thought to what was brewing in Vietnam! We learned all this in school on Decoration Day if May 30 fell on a weekday. The challenge was to stay in our desks until the 3pm bell before charging off to catch the big parade in NYC.  
This all changed in 1971 when we simultaneously started calling Decoration Day by its new (1968 law) congressionally mandated name Memorial Day and moved the holiday to the third Monday in May. It was now a real holiday and all government offices including schools were closed by the law. Appropriate timing as Vietnam was now at its peak of conflict. Cronkite had already for several years been closing his nightly, every night not just Memorial Day, broadcast with the day's death toll before the everlasting "and that is the way it was". We were living life at war. We all knew somebody in the fight and those of us at draft age knew our day already had a number assigned by a clerk, in a dingy office, in Coney Island. That first Memorial Day really mean something! We all felt patriotism, sympathy, mourning, empathy and in some cases fear. This was an era of Jane Fonda, John Kerry and spitting on servicemen in uniform. There were marches and chants of baby killer. "hey, hey LBJ how many boys did you kill today?" It was an era of emotional and intellectual conflict. Still to most of us it was a day to be proud and appreciative. There were still millions of WWI, WWII and Korea Vets around to set the tone and teach the appropriate humility and honor.
The holiday changed with the times in the late 1970s and1980s. It became the bell to announce the end of school, and the beginning of summer. Big Department Store Sales (no internet yet) replaced the focus of wreath laying (the vision of JFK at the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier is etched in my memory) and epic BBQs replaced town center gatherings and parades. As the years passed we forgot what Memorial Day really is.
This weekend enjoy your families and friends. Let the nubile summer sun give you hope for days ahead. But, if for even just for a moment, put down the cold beer and push aside the hot dog. Turn off the big game on TV and find a comfortable space for reflection. Silently or not so silently give thanks for all those that ever pulled on one of our nation's uniforms and marched off to an unknown fate. Those men and women are Memorial Day. It is to them we owe everything! Be proud of what they did, what they gave and what we have because of them. It is pretty damn great to be an American!