Memorial Day weekend - what is it?

I believe that to a lot of people a holiday like Memorial Day is nothing more than a day off of work and a BBQ. To me it's a somber affair, a time to reflect and remember the people who gave their lives in the service of this country.

There are so many disagreements, not when it comes to being patriotic but when it comes to talking about the ones who have died fighting for our country. I don't want to give contemporary examples, but at the end of the Vietnam war few people appreciated the men who returned and fought in it....I am thinking on a radio show that isn't political, it can be understood why a part like that can be inappropriate.


I think there are far greater problems with American society and how patriotic we are that we can ponder on this memorial day weekend, that we can improve on- so many claim to be patriots and wear a flag and have "god bless america" bumper stickers, but they are so apathetic when it comes to politics that I've seen people who don't even know who the president is. What's the point of having a flag in front of your house if you don't do your civic duty and vote??? When you don't know what is going on in your country, who the leaders are and what they are doing?? It's a government OF the people and BY the people. Jeez it just ticks me off. Obviously no one in IMO is anything like that

I think there is some serious overgeneralizing going on here.

If a bunch of kids say it's "hateful" when other kids wear the flag, does that make it so? Not in my opinion, and not even when some assistant principal tells the kids they can't wear the flag. As I recall, that assistant principal's decision was recsinded by the school board. For whatever it is worth, I belong to the old school that finds wearing the flag disrespectful in the first place.

HOAs are notorious for being restrictive, but they cannot prevent someone from displaying the American flag. They can limit the size of things like flag poles, and without having read the specific story, I presume that someone tried to go against some HOA regulations that had nothing to do with the flag per se, and decided to turn it into a "those goldarn PC liberals are preventing us red-blooded Americans from doign what we want" story.
http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/news/th102606.htm
For the record, I would live in a trailer before I'd live in a HOA for that very reason - too restrictive in general.

About the radio station? I'm not familiar with the one in question, but I find that unless I'm listening to NPR, they will do anything for ratings and revenues. They do not want people to reflect and think, they want them to party party. A radio that is tuned to "party on" station during the Memorial Day weekend, playing peppy music as a background to a BBQ, can generate ad revenue. Most radio stations are for-profit enterprises so they are looking at their bottom line. In that regard, yes, a radio station is not realyl going to give a rip about the sacrifces that soldiers have made for the US and remember it - unless they can make money off of it. And really, why should memorial day be any different than Christmas as far as turning it into some kind of revenues generating enterprise is concerned? Don't we do that with ALL holidays?

Our family has managed to combine the aspects of the holiday pretty well actually. We spend the weekend visiting and cleaning up family cemeteries in several counties. Yesterday I spent about 6 hours at a tiny cemetery is a far out of the way place called Lone Star Ridge, when my ancestors from several generations ago are buried.

But Monday, we'll have the cookout and family gathering too.

You are absolutely wrong. But I'm sure that is what they are teaching in college.

Just because the college kids, during the Viet Nam War, spit on on returning servicemen and called them "baby killers" does NOT mean the majority did. Because the majority DIDN'T do any vile, disgusting things like that. I have never, in my life known ANYONE who did not appreciate returning servicement from Viet Nam.

On the contrary, most people went out of their way to show their support because of the disgusting treatment returning servicement were receiving by college kids.

FTR, I would hazard a guess that most people that fly a flag in their yard, DO vote and do know who holds office and who do vote.

Try watching one of Hannity's "Man on the Street" interviews where an interviewer (not Hannity) asks random people who the President is, who the VP is, who the Secretary of State is. It is, for the most part, the youth of this nation who are not able to answer those questions.

Does anyone know if U. S. History is being taught in the schools anymore.

Yes, it is still taught in schools, a watered down PC version that bears no resemblance to what was taught in school. I don't mean to sound racist, because I am not, but many districts are now teaching Black History instead. I don't see why it cannot just be American History, with the texts rewritten to add the many contributions that Black Americans made to the betterment of our country.

Actually, I came home from Boot Camp in July of 1978, just a few years after the war, and had a great many noses turned up at me. No spitting or yelling, but so many cold shoulders that I felt a chill. By the 2nd day of home leave, I was wearing jeans instead of a uniform. It wasn't so much "baby killer" as it was "loser".

Well, it makes sense for Americans of African heritage to be one group of many that get the spotlight sometime over the course of the year...but I know what you mean...the historical informedness level of graduates who've been through 12 years of school is depressing.

My dad never went to Vietnam, but he was in the Navy during the Vietnam war. He had several incidents while he was in uniform. It wasn't very nice back then, I guess.

I don't fly a flag at my house because it would not get the proper treatment. A lot of the flags I see at houses and business are not treated with the respect it deserves some raggety, no light on them at night, etc. . I have no problem with HOA banning the flags as long as they are consistant with banning other decorations. I am not a big fan of using the flags image for clothing. So those examples don't bother me.

I think while some things get alot of press, actions from ordinary people don't get the press it deserves. Ordinary americans that support the military without fanfare. There are plenty of them out there. For Memorial Day this year my group of friends collected 24 boxes of things and letters and shipped them to Afgahanistan for some of the men and women serving there. It was our small way of telling them we care and are thinking of them. We have plans for other care packages as well. When we sent the word out we were gratified with the amount of support we received from people helping us out.

I was also brought up in the "old school" of how to treat a flag. We hung ours out every morning, and brought it in at sunset and when it rained. I have no problem with shirts that have the image of the flag on it, but I DO have a problem with shirts, shorts, rags (yes, dust rags) made out of cut up flags. I know they are just cloth, but it's the principle. I also disliked how after 9/11 people flew flags on their car antenna until they were just ragged and then threw them away. I flew them too, but I burned them when they got to torn up. (Girl Scout training...what can I say).

I was just a kid when the Vietnam War ended, so I really didn't get a good feel for the general feeling in America. But, I will say that our town welcomed soldiers back with open arms. I remember going to many "welcome home" parties and I was taught at a young age to respect the uniform. Of course, the town I grew up in was very conservative and may not have reflected the opinions of the rest of the country.

To me, Memorial Day is a day to remember fallen loved ones and their families. Most of my relatives lost someone to a war so we remember them all. The ones left behind have the hardest job of all.