For Most Americans, Happy Memorial Day Means Summer

For most Americans, hearing the words Happy Memorial Day, is a sign that Summer has knocked on the door and they will let it in.

Memorial Day, of course, was established to commemorate those who have served and suffered; many unfortunately, have paid the most high price – their lives. On a personal note, too many of those were my friends.

I recently received a phone call not a few weeks ago from one of my brethren to tell me the always miserable news that one of our other brothers had fallen. I receive a few of those a year, and it never gets easier.

Obviously, to me, Memorial Day carries the appropriate meaning. A survey from Rasmussen Reports finds that 49% of Americans consider Memorial Day one of the most important holidays of the year. Only 7% consider Memorial Day one of the least important holidays, while 43% rate it somewhere in between.

To scholars such as Benedict Anderson, who are most noted for their works on the concept of “nation” and the defining of the concept “nation,” Memorial Day is a manifested creation of our “imagined community” needing share in both the glory and pains of our past; a need to celebrate something “time immemorial.” That may very well be, and although I agree with Anderson’s argument in large part, for me Memorial Day carries a certain degree of shared pain, which feels anything but imagined.

However, the glory far outweighs the pain regardless, and I will enjoy my weekend with the ones of love knowing that I do so for others who will never again have that chance. The sacrifice itself is worthy of the celebration, an in this respect, this is a most Happy Memorial Day.

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For Most Americans, Memorial Day Means Summer Is Here – Rasmussen Reports™.