Memorial Day is Not About Shopping

As a mom, of course I'm proud of my children, but I love those little sparkling moments when I'm also genuinely surprised by their thoughtful words and actions. Yesterday, I experienced one of those moments, when my nine-year-old son said, rather out of the blue, "Memorial Day is not about the 50% off sales." While I'd like to think that our current non-consumerist mindset is really rubbing off on him, I have to give credit to one of his teachers, Bella Levkovich. Before school let out for the Memorial Day break, she discussed with the students the true meaning of Memorial Day and how people in some other countries literally come to a standstill for a few minutes. To pay tribute, to be mindful, to remember, to be thankful for all that we have today, to memorialize those who are no longer among us...

I wish you a meaningful Memorial Day weekend.

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Comments

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I ride by Arlington National Cemetery on my bicycle twice per day on my way to and from work. There's no way you can confuse Memorial Day with shopping there.

I'm active duty Coast Guard right now, and come from a long line of military in my family. My dad was in Vietnam and so were my uncles, so I've had a lot of time to think about this over the years. Memorial Day actually sort of sucks. I'm usually not home for it, but I was this year, and I loved having a great meal outside with my family after a fantastic weekend together. It was perfect. This is the best way to honor all those people buried in Arlington -- just be together, and raise a glass for our country. Nothing fancy.

Posted by: Patrick | 05/30/2013 at 12:14 PM

This is the thing that burns through my mind on Memorial Day:

http://blog.gettyimages.com/2010/05/27/memorial-day-at-arlington-national-cemetery/

Posted by: Patrick | 05/30/2013 at 12:17 PM

I think most Americans are grateful to servicepeople like you (I certainly am), and I'm sure they think about that gratitude on Memorial Day. It's just the stores and their constant hawking of "DOORBUSTING MEMORIAL DAY SALES!!!" that drives me nuts. I don't know why stores need to hijack certain holidays to make extra bucks. I guess it works, because the trend continues, but I just can't imagine heading to a mall of all places on Memorial Day. Gross...

Posted by: Joy @ JoyfullyGreen.com | 05/30/2013 at 01:32 PM

Indeed. That's quite beautiful--thanks for sharing it here, Patrick.