That Most Unusual of Holidays

Memorial Day is a weird holiday- it's supposed to be about honoring those who fell in the service of our country, but it's devolved into a day for heading to the beach or for barbecuing. The devolution was bound to happen, most Americans don't know anyone who's fallen in combat, serving the nation, and fewer still have enough vacation days so they can devote a precious day off to civic piety. Personally, I think Memorial Day should be moved to a colder month, say March, and the last Monday of May should be renamed
'It's Too Nice to Work, I'm Heading to the Beach' Day. For the record, I worked an overnight shift, but I'm one of the lucky ones who actually loves his job and his workplace- I closed up after the big fundraiser ended, so I saw a lot of friends and had the place to myself afterward.

We Americans talk a good job about 'supporting the troops', but we're so eager to throw them into the meat-grinder rather than forging a saner foreign policy. I'm not the kind of guy to begrudge anybody a nice Sunday night beer bash and a Monday spent on the beach, I'd rather have a government which isn't devoted to adding to the ranks of the fallen.