Memorial Day

So many holidays have been a fixed around weekends to create an excuse to shop that many tend to forget what the day is actually about. "Presidents' Day" chaps my ass every year. Washington and Lincoln have had their birthdays stripped from the national calender and compressed into one three day weekend...If a country can't set aside one day for its first President and one for the President who saved it.... ugh... Presidents' Day makes me too angry to think about. And another thing - not one day for a WOMAN all year??? Susan B Anthony? Harriet Tubman? not one day...

To the point:

Memorial Day is important because it is specifically set aside to honor those who died in war. Like the national day of Thanksgiving - it comes out of the civil war. Whatever else you do today I hope you give over a moment of prayer, silence, devotion, or however else you may express solemn gratitude, to those who died in service.

Memorial Day is a United States Federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (in 2008 on May 26). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who perished while in military service to their country. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War, it was expanded after World War I to include casualties of any war or military action.