
I don’t know about you – but it was disconcerting when I heard a newscaster say “Happy Memorial Day” this morning.
To be fair, I’ve also heard the same salutation during a casual exchange with a cashier at the grocery or amongst friends at the pool.
I don’t mean to lecture.
And I don’t want to drain the joy from anyone’s backyard pool party, barbecue or sale shopping spree.
Yet there’s really nothing “happy” about the death of a servicemember. It’s a solemn affair. President Lincoln stated in his Gettysburg Address that we, as citizens, must embrace a higher purpose and promise to those fallen:
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom …
So, what is a proper greeting?
- Have a memorable Memorial Day
- Pay tribute to the Fallen this day
- Remember what’s important on Memorial Day.
- Celebrate all who have sacrificed this Memorial Day
- Have an Honor Filled Memorial Day
I don’t have a one word solution. Obviously. I continue to search.
And I sense those who have fallen would want their family, friends and future countrymen to be happy. I know that’s what my husband, a US Navy veteran of WWII and Korea, wanted for me. To be happy.
And then I remembered, our country was founded on the premise that we have the “unalienable Rights” of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
So maybe “happy” is appropriate as long as it’s balanced with an equal dedication to keeping our nation united.
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