I know it is meant well, but its stupid: "Happy Memorial Day"

[Stinky The Clown]

Memorial Day is about dead guys who died far too young, and in many cases for not such a good reason.

Dead guys (and women).

Dead.

Morte.

Done.

Yet people see it as a holiday. The "unofficial start of summer". Lots of red white and blue cupcakes at the grocery store. Meat on sale. Charcoal and soda on sale.

It is about dead guys, people.

Dead guys.

Okay?

[ejpoeta]

1. but there are sales!!! on cars and mattresses. i thought that was what memorial day was!!!

:sarcasm:

[Captain Hilts]

2. Agree. Sales are in such bad taste. nt

[gristy]

3. I had not heard this expression. But if I did, I would also think it odd.

[demosincebirth]

4. Come on down and Celebrate with us and go in debt and buy a $40000 Japanese car.

:sarcasm:

[Mist]

5. Just another 3-day weekend....People have forgotton the "dead people" part. nt

[Stinky The Clown]

6. How is this on the greatest page when it only has 3 recs?

Because it got unreced as soon as it got here.

Who disgarees with the sentiment? Can you at least man up and say why?

[femmedem]

7. Devil's advocate here:

I am remembering someone I loved who, shortly before he committed suicide, said he hoped that after he died, people would throw a big party and celebrate his life.

I am also thinking of a young woman who's 50-something-year-old mother died in her sleep a few weeks ago, without warning. This woman is trying to do positive things her mother enjoyed, especially yoga, to honor her.

It's okay to have a happy Memorial Day. We can be happy while honoring and remembering the dead. I believe that's what most of the dead would have wanted.

[pipi_k]

9. Because there's always another side to every issue...

I agree with you.

In 2005 we knew that my MIL was going to die. We had her here in hospice.

The morning she did die, it just so happened that the kids and respective spouses were going to get together here and cook up one of her favorite dishes because eating sandwiches each day for over a month got real old.

Which was what we did. We sat and ate while mom laid in state in her "bedroom" (which was our living room) awaiting transport to the funeral home.

We had a regular old party and we laughed, knowing that wherever Mom was, she was probably looking down enjoying the party. She absolutely LOVED parties.

After the hearse came and took Mom away, the family made plans to meet at my SIL's house later with some other members of the family. We had pizza and all kinds of goodies. We told stories about Mom and Dad (who died in 1992) and laughed some more.

It's the way they would have wanted it.

So I agree that it's OK to mourn the dead on Memorial Day, but that it's also OK to enjoy a way of life that might not have been possible without their sacrifices.

[Orsino]

10. Yeah. It's a holiday that is celebrated by many. n/t

[Warren Stupidity]

11. Right so, taking up where Stinky left off...

Memorial Day is actually a commemoration of the soldiers who died in the Civil War, expanded later (much later actually) to include the soldiers who died in subsequent wars. It is not a general purpose bring out your dead holiday. Unlike Mexico, we don't have a proper holiday for the dead, but that will change.

[CTyankee]

8. As an ESOL tutor, I try to help foreign English learners know about our holidays.

I divide them into separate sections so they don't get the impression that everything is a festival of singing and dancing, altho some could be. I tell them about the word "memorial" and differentiate it from "Veteran's Day." I mention the barbecuing and the sales but stress that it's NOT the real reason and I talk about the President laying wreaths on servicemembers graves. They get it.