Memorial Day Deaths

Monday, May 30th was Memorial Day in the U.S., but The National World War II Museum in New Orleans says Memorial Day is losing its identity as a day to honor those who died defending the U.S. This is interesting because I have also noticed how Memorial Day has almost become another one of those forgotten holidays that litter every calendar. It's like one of those that honor a long dead political figure or a national hero no one remembers. People love having to not go to work or school, but they sometimes don't even care enough about why they have the holiday to take the time to understand what it is about.

A study commissioned by that World War II museum found that 80 percent of people surveyed did not understand what Memorial Day was for. And I can understand why. This is an age of anti war and anti militarism. It would be difficult to restore the patriotic fervor that once surrounded the holiday in this age, because we are so occupied with daily life that remembering unpleasantness like war is not too often on the agenda.. Many people just don't connect emotionally with the day anymore.

I think it is not so tragic that Memorial Day is losing its appeal. Such days, when kept in perspective, are good for a society. They remind us of sacrifices humans make for others, even in the form of the death of citizens in defense of the country or its principals. But the opposite extreme of that mentality is the kind of maddening patriotism that the world saw in Nazi Germany before and during World War II, where a blind "patriotism" for the nation was in fact a diseased expression.

It seems that in the industrial world the events that honor war are now seen more as relics. They are often only major holidays and celebrations in dictatorships or in societies that use propaganda to motivate the population to obey the will of the dictatorship that exists in the nation. By defining a country based on past military struggles, the state can identify and validate its present existence as an extension of the past sacrifices made in war. Dictators love to tell their people of the "glories of the nation's wars" because doing that helps to legitimize their own presence with the citizens. And leaders who wish to hide their failings (as in George Bush) use Memorial Day or "patriotic" rallies to distract the voters from the reality of the nation's deficits.

So, I think a lessened Memorial Day may not be so bad after all. Keeping patriotism in check is a far, far better way to honor those who died in protecting us.