memorial day thoughts (delayed post)
May. 28th, 2007 11:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rkttwenty years ago, my memorial day often meant dressing up in colonial garb for a part of the day and sitting around pretending to be living in the era of the revolutionary war.*
maybe that’s one of those things that should go into a locked entry…. if you’re not familiar with such, review your simpons archive.
my dad was big on this sort of thing. not being the most social person, nor the most adaptive to summer, (which was when we hopped around the midwest with others to bring a mobile camp-site version of colonial warfare to a park near you) i was not so keen on these endeavors.
that and the whole budding weariness of war-glorification (which is a lot less budding these days).
despite his liberal side, my dad wanted to be in the military like whoah. his body was too wonky, though, to be accepted into the military, even in the mid-to-late 1960s. .. my mother’s first fiancée, wasn’t so lucky or i wouldn’t really be here.
memorial day also involved going to the cemetery to plant flowers on the graves of great uncles, children of immigrants, some i’d known, others i’d not.
i’m not a big shopper and i’m at odds with memorial day sales. there’s shit i really could use from target and today is the easiest day for me to go there, except flatbush target is hellacious on a quiet day. am i really respecting anyone by shopping on memorial day? but isn’t that part of the reason the USA keeps trying to play king? to keep the world safe fordemocracy capitalism? i’ve learned that my craptastic education was actually better than par, and the biggest reason i remember being taught the us decided that intervention was necessary for Vietnam was because of those damned commies.
i lost my point somewhere up there, probably as soon as i started.
just because i can list many many reasons why The Military needs some serious re-adjustments (i erased them because they distracted from the point), does not mean that Memorial Day should mean nothing. it shouldn’t just be another day off from work to go shopping. of all the shopping holidays, i think i have the least patience with the shopping/Sales! aspect on this one.
because just taking a few minutes to ponder how many people have died or were injured –physically, mentally, spiritually - in wars (and quasi-wars) regardless of their own belief in The Cause shouldn’t be so hard.
war is never truly necessary, some just make it so that it is, but that’s not the fault of those who are enlisted, by choice, circumstance, will, whatever….
*other years, it meant staying home and catching candy in the parade.
or marching in it.
maybe that’s one of those things that should go into a locked entry…. if you’re not familiar with such, review your simpons archive.
my dad was big on this sort of thing. not being the most social person, nor the most adaptive to summer, (which was when we hopped around the midwest with others to bring a mobile camp-site version of colonial warfare to a park near you) i was not so keen on these endeavors.
that and the whole budding weariness of war-glorification (which is a lot less budding these days).
despite his liberal side, my dad wanted to be in the military like whoah. his body was too wonky, though, to be accepted into the military, even in the mid-to-late 1960s. .. my mother’s first fiancée, wasn’t so lucky or i wouldn’t really be here.
memorial day also involved going to the cemetery to plant flowers on the graves of great uncles, children of immigrants, some i’d known, others i’d not.
i’m not a big shopper and i’m at odds with memorial day sales. there’s shit i really could use from target and today is the easiest day for me to go there, except flatbush target is hellacious on a quiet day. am i really respecting anyone by shopping on memorial day? but isn’t that part of the reason the USA keeps trying to play king? to keep the world safe for
i lost my point somewhere up there, probably as soon as i started.
just because i can list many many reasons why The Military needs some serious re-adjustments (i erased them because they distracted from the point), does not mean that Memorial Day should mean nothing. it shouldn’t just be another day off from work to go shopping. of all the shopping holidays, i think i have the least patience with the shopping/Sales! aspect on this one.
because just taking a few minutes to ponder how many people have died or were injured –physically, mentally, spiritually - in wars (and quasi-wars) regardless of their own belief in The Cause shouldn’t be so hard.
war is never truly necessary, some just make it so that it is, but that’s not the fault of those who are enlisted, by choice, circumstance, will, whatever….
*other years, it meant staying home and catching candy in the parade.
or marching in it.
