Click to ENLARGE. Base image ‘Normandy American Cemetery‘ from Wikipedia.
Here is a CLASSIC example, on ‘Facebook’ today.
NOT cricket.
‘Memorial Day‘ is NOT a celebratory holiday though most Americans do not appear to appreciate that. Many, especially the young, think of it in terms of cookouts, going to the beach & the start of Summer. A shame. It is also not a generalized holiday to remember, memorialize & honor all departed.
It is a VERY specific & special holiday.
Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a U.S. Federal Holiday for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have died while serving in the United States armed forces.
That is it. Period. Nothing more. Nothing less.
For honoring & mourning those that died IN SERVICE.
It is NOT meant to be a HAPPY DAY.
It is meant to be a sober day! Yep …. (SMILE).
Yes, this is one of my yearly pet peeves. People just not appreciating what Memorial Day is all about.
A couple of years ago we even had a draft-dodging U.S. President that wished the Nation a ‘Happy Memorial Day’! What can I say! NO. Happy is NOT appropriate. Think about it.
Click to ENLARGE. School of ‘Hans Memling’ c. 1510. From ‘Wikipedia Commons‘. Good Friday MIDDLE. Easter on right & birth on left.
Click to ENLARGE.
The U.S. has NO — I repeat ‘NO’ — Federal Holiday for Easter, though the stock markets are closed.
Good Friday is not deemed a Federal Holiday — & neither is Easter Monday, i.e., the day after Easter Sunday (in lieu of Sunday).
In many countries in the world, especially in Europe, Easter is a 4-day National Holiday. This was even the case in Ceylon when I was growing up.
But, not so, in supposedly very Christian U.S.
I saw the local school bus go by this morning. That still amazes I. School on Good Friday. But, the stock market, is closed (& when folks used to tell me that Wall St. was run by Jews). We had mail. So the post office is working. Very strange. I, however, though we are not Christians, gave my daughter the day off from homeschooling. I can’t get used to Good Friday not being a holiday.
Good Friday, IF you think about it, is the MOST SIGNIFICANT DAY In The Whole Of Human History!
What happened on a ‘Friday‘, nearly 2,000 years ago, forever & indelibly changed the course of human history.
No other event has been so consequential.
Yes, I gave this a lot of thought.
What was the most significant event, ever, that changed the course of human history?
One way or another, whether you like it or not, it has to Jesus!
You could argue that in that case the day should be the day he was born.
Alas, we don’t know when that was! Christmas is a totally fabricated holiday.
Hence Good Friday. The day he died. Easter the day he was resurrected. Easter follows from Good Friday. Hence, my claim that it is a two-part Holiday: Good Friday & Easter.
IF you don’t agree and have other contenders PLEASE let me know. It will help me in my thinking.
Click to ENLARGE. Base image ‘Normandy American Cemetery‘ from Wikipedia.
‘Memorial Day‘ is NOT a celebratory holiday though most Americans do not appear to appreciate that. Many, especially the young, think of it in terms of cookouts, going to the beach & the start of Summer. A shame. It is also not a generalized holiday to remember, memorialize & honor all departed.
It is a VERY specific & special holiday.
Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a U.S. Federal Holiday for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have died while serving in the United States armed forces.
That is it. Period. Nothing more. Nothing less.
For honoring & mourning those that died IN SERVICE.
It is NOT meant to be a HAPPY DAY.
It is meant to be a sober day! Yep …. (SMILE).
Yes, this is one of my yearly pet peeves. People just not appreciating what Memorial Day is all about.
A couple of years ago we even had a draft-dodging U.S. President that wished the Nation a ‘Happy Memorial Day’! What can I say! NO. Happy is NOT appropriate. Think about it.
The U.S. has NO — I repeat ‘NO’ — Federal Holiday for Easter.
Good Friday is not deemed a Federal Holiday — & neither is Easter Monday, i.e., the day after Easter Sunday (in lieu of Sunday). In many countries in the world, especially in Europe, Easter is a 4-day National Holiday. This was even the case in Ceylon when I was growing up.
But, not so, in supposedly very Christian U.S.
I saw the local school bus go by this morning. That still amazes I. School on Good Friday. But, the stock market, is closed (& when folks used to tell me that Wall St. was run by Jews). We had mail. So the post office is working. Very strange. I, however, though we are not Christians, gave my daughter the day off from homeschooling. I can’t get used to Good Friday not being a holiday.
Good Friday, IF you think about it, is the MOST SIGNIFICANT DAY In The Whole Of Human History!
What happened on a ‘Friday‘, nearly 2,000 years ago, forever & indelibly changed the course of human history.
No other event has been so consequential.
Yes, I gave this a lot of thought.
What was the most significant event, ever, that changed the course of human history?
One way or another, whether you like it or not, it has to Jesus!
You could argue that in that case the day should be the day he was born.
Alas, we don’t know when that was! Christmas is a totally fabricated holiday.
Hence Good Friday. The day he died. Easter the day he was resurrected. Easter follows from Good Friday. Hence, my claim that it is a two-part Holiday: Good Friday & Easter.
IF you don’t agree and have other contenders PLEASE let me know. It will help me in my thinking.
