For too many Americans, Memorial Day is little more than a three-day weekend, a holiday in May marking the unofficial beginning of summer. The long weekend is filled with pool parties, first-of-the-year barbecues, and, of course, retail bargains. This, not to put too fine a point on it, is wrong.
Memorial Day was created as a remembrance to honor the fallen by decorating graves — a holiday meant to provide a pause so we could remember those who have given the most they could give in the name of freedom.
Sometimes it feels like we didn’t just get out of a 20-year war that heavily impacted so many service members and their families. The significance and original purpose of the day are lost to most average Americans, many of whom don’t know the difference between Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Veterans Day.
