This weekend while I was sipping my solo cup and eating burgers with my friends a thought came to mind. I was looking around at my red faced friends and wondering how this made any sense! It’s Memorial Day weekend and were all celebrating but not for what we should be. We should be celebrating the lives of those before us who fought to give us the freedom we are actively enjoying in this moment. Instead we are celebrating the start of summer and the extra day off of school or work. Did anyone here even honor a veteran? When did it start being about the beach and booze? I began to question my morals and now I plan to question yours.
Memorial Day is viewed as the start to summer vacation season. The beaches officially open for the season and everyone wants to get star spangled hammered to celebrate. They don’t even know what they should be celebrating. Memorial Day originated after the American Civil War as a day to decorate the graves of the soldiers lost in battle. Nothing about that seems like fun on the beach. It is meant to be a day of remembrance. The intention of the holiday is to honor the memory of those who have died for our country. The girls in their American flag bikinis might think they have the right idea but do they even know what they’re wearing it for? This holiday is not about thanking a veteran and loving America. Not to mention the fact that you shouldn’t need a date on a calendar to remind you to thank the ones who protect our freedom, that’s an everyday thing not a holiday thing. As I said, Memorial Day is a day to remember all the soldiers who died for our country. Meanwhile Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans. These two holidays are not the same. It’s like Christmas and Easter, both celebrate the life of Christ but they are in no way the same holiday.
The true purpose of Memorial Day is out there for public knowledge but my question still stands, why has this day become something it’s not? In a Twitter poll I asked my followers “what did you do for Memorial Day weekend?” Their options were “drink on the beach” or “visit a national cemetery”. 100% of the voters say they drank on the beach. I would go as far to guess that most of them don’t even know where a national cemetery is to go visit. It is so obvious that this isn’t right. Everyone has become accepting to the reality of Memorial Day being changed into the celebration of summer and not the celebration of fallen soldiers. When you think of it that way doesn’t it make you question your morals just a bit? In the same sense that Christmas is about presents and not about the birth of Jesus Christ. We all know it is wrong but we all continue in the same manner.
I know this article will not change any of it. Next year on the last weekend of May everyone will be headed down the shore with their cooler filled to its maximum capacity and honestly I may be one of them. But the fact of the matter is that Memorial Day was meant to mean more than that and it should. People are dead because they wanted us to have the freedom to drink on the beach. They deserve this one day on a calendar and honestly so much more than that.
