Homogenizing Our Holidays

Memorial Day is a day for remembering and honoring military personnel who died in the service of their country, particularly those who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle. We've homogenized our holidays, however, of this I am certain.

Instead of letting many of the holidays fall as they would, scattered throughout the days of the week, we now force fit them into Mondays or Fridays so that we can enjoy long weekends. No more Lincoln's Birthday, no more Washington's birthday, we now have President's Day, and too many citizens have no idea which presidents we're even honoring.

Labor day has become a shopping day. For many, Memorial Day has no meaning other than that which TV viewers may happen to view on the 6 o'clock news, when they see veterans marching in formation or loved ones visiting a cemetery. There is no national unity through the celebration of common national holidays. Indeed, if anything there is splintering. The quest for efficiency or uniformity has morphed into a social blandness in which no days stand out. No celebrations are worth getting worked up about, little or no true reflection occurs, and the only pauses anyone take is when they're forced to, i.e. the car stalls, the computer crashes, or blackout squelches electricity for a night.