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It was a day for ALL Americans to bond and find commonality in our history and our heritage and to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure those bonds endured along with our democracy and it's institutions.
Now . . . for some, it is nothing more than a political football. A day to sow hatred and and suspicion and drive the wedge of discord ever deeper between the country's fractured body politic.
Paul Rosenberg at Salon explains:
This naturally brings me back to my original question — what, exactly, are we remembering on Memorial Day? We can begin by remembering the origins of Memorial Day itself. First celebrated nationally, with funereal ceremonies at 183 cemeteries in 27 states, on May 30, 1868, it was specifically a remembrance of the Civil War dead, originally under the auspices of the Grand Army of the Republic, the organization of Union veterans. Over time, it brought together the remembrance of those who had died on either side of the war. Only after World War I was it expanded to honor all those who have died in America’s wars. This makes it particularly ironic that those at Fox News, and elsewhere in the rightwing media, sometimes seem more interested in starting a new civil war, than remembering the last one.http://www.salon.com/2014/05/24/the_fake_patriotism_of_fox_news_what_the_right_doesnt_understand_about_memorial_day/
Go read the article. Learn, as The Gadfly did, about the surprising true origins of Memorial Day. Then go out and enjoy the long weekend.
----TFG
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