It seems a funny thing to me, this phrase “Happy Memorial Day.” I mean, when people say it, they seem to mean it as a blessing or somehow wishing us well by it. But I have trouble with the phrase: I don’t see it as a happy thing to remember casualties of war. I feel sadness first. They certainly deserve remembrance, honor and respect. What troubles me is the word “happy.” What is happy about the war dead? What is happy about war? What is happy about government officials, safe in their offices, sending young women and men to protect the interests of multinational corporations, half-hearted service to other countries, or to save face in the name of national security? My main point here is not to try to discern justified from unjustifiable military action, but to question the notion that there’s anything “happy” about it – except maybe those who profit in some way from them. But there’s nothing “happy” about that either.
And then to make it a marketing tool as well: to “celebrate” Memorial Day as if we would want more of them, and at a reduced price. Not that I don’t take advantage of sales at any of our national retail holidays, but it still feels crass, like their sacrifices are being debased to a sales gimmick.
If we really want to honor those who served and those who died in that service, I would think we would do everything possible to establish the peace that we claim wars are to ensure, and to make those ideals of “liberty and justice for all” more than a cliché.
So, perhaps it could be a happy thing if the ends we thought were being served by their service came to fruition. In any case, I honor their embodiment of not only an ideal, but also the day-to-day, front-line presence to which they gave their lives. May you have a Memorial Day of deep reflection and honest gratitude.