"Memorial Day" sales make me want to cry that people

[TNNurse]

are that stupid and and heartless.

[MutantAndProud]

1. I know the feeling

It’s one of the most unsettling ones

[Effete Snob]

2. I was trying to find the start time of the service at our local Veteran's Cemetery

So, I checked the "things to do" pages of the local paper.

It had quite a list of "Memorial Day Celebrations".

I found it elsewhere after checking quite a few resources, but, golly, you'd think that would be sort of prominent among Memorial Day events.

But I guess honoring the memory of the dead is a buzzkill. We should move that to a different part of the year, because it does come of as something of a downer.

[Sympthsical]

4. Far prefer Remembrance Day in Europe on November 11th

I've always thought the end of May was kind of a weird one. End of the school year. "It's the start of the summer, so bust out the BBQs!" Potentially a Toyotathon. There's a lot going on.

November is at least appropriately dreary. And they keep it fairly solemn the with the poppies on their lapels. And early November isn't really associated with anything else except elections - and maybe people should have a mind of what people died for when it comes time to vote.

Veteran's Day is right there. Just meld the two together.

[BlackSkimmer]

16. "Potentially a Toyotathon"

I'm dying here.

I agree though; November would be better. My parents, who were Brits, always made a point to observe it. I still have a little poppy pin that mom gave me as a child.

[niyad]

6. The first Memorial Day observance was May 1, 1865, as freed slaves marked

the end of the American Civil War by burying Union dead. May 30, 1868, President Garfield honoured the fallen officially at Arlington.

[GoCubsGo]

3. The same goes for the big emphasis on cookouts and road trips.

Mine shithole town is having a fucking parade, and it's not a somber affair, either. Just another chance to be seen.

[marble falls]

5. We always had a family picknic after decorating graves when I was a kid. It was always the first ...

... of the year. No celebration, just family time. I remember some chilly ones in the rain under a pavilion.

[Boomerproud]

7. I said that to a friend yesterday that I was tired of the same lectures

From local news readers about how to observe Memorial Day and then segue to a mattress sale. Spare me the hypocrisy.

[maxsolomon]

8. "Thanks for the American dream. To vulgarize and to falsify until the bare lies shine through"

-WS Burroughs, A Thanksgiving Prayer

It's a crass nation. It's not going to change.

[Chainfire]

9. Yes, but what have the dead done for me lately?

As a baby boomer, the heroes of Greatest Generation defined the course of my life. They are now mostly gone and forgotten. Many of their ethics, virtues and their judgement died with them. There are a significant number of today's Americans who support the very thing that our WWII vets fought to protect the people from. Today, American heroes carry AR15s in public places, invade our Capitol, burn books and persecute anyone who is not a cookie-cutter, white Christian conservative.

Is it any wonder how easy it is for Madison Avenue to co-opt our day of remembrance?

I have had direct family members die during the French and Indian Wars, The American Revolution, The Civil War, Jackson's Indian Wars, and WWI. I will remember and honor them and those who died alongside them.

[RobinA]

10. I Don't Get The Problem

People can celebrate any way they want. To me, Memorial Day is to honor or memorialize our war dead. It started out as Decoration Day, when people would decorate the graves of the dead by festooning them with flowers. Would it have been better to "decorate" with black crepe? While wearing black crepe? A parade can honor the dead, but anyone who would prefer to wallow in grief is free to do so in their homes with the shades drawn. Memorial Day parades are usually patriotic to at least some extent, which is a way (or used to be) of acknowledging the values the soldiers supposedly died for.

[TNNurse]

11. I do not think people should make money on Memorial Day sales

[llmart]

12. There is a tremendous amount of people in our country...

who have a shopping addiction. No one talks about that. That addiction seems to get a pass in our uber capitalistic society. They truly do think it's patriotic. I will never forget within a day or two of 9/11 the stores were already selling red, white and blue bikini underwear in the women's department. Ole' Dubya and Cheney couldn't get a response together (other than the fake bullhorn schtick) as quickly as the merchandisers could get their products in store displays.

Every freakin' holiday in this country has to be a shop-a-thon.

[madinmaryland]

13. Pretty much every "holiday" has turned into a massive sales event.

Sickening.

[wnylib]

15. You make some good points, but it

always seems a bit hypocritical to me that we honor vets with parades, yet often put our military in harm's way with unnecessary wars and then refuse to acknowledge, treat, and compensate for the damage that they experience from weapons like Agent Orange, depleted uranium, etc.

[BlueCheeseAgain]

14. Live and let live.

I generally don't mind what other people are doing, so long as it doesn't harm anyone else.