The True Meaning Of Memorial Day

Americans have often had mixed feelings regarding the armed forces. While I might take issue with sending young people to another country to kill strangers I firmly believe in defending your own territory. I have often told people of the time my great uncle stood half-naked on the deck of a ship firing off one of the “big guns” while the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. I have no conscientious objection about self-defense; trust me.

(Mind you, many men in my family have served in the military. Personally, while I was almost convinced into joining the Coast Guard (as in “guard” your own“coast”) I never actually served. I did, however, register with Selective Service. Fortunately for you readers and (obviously) for me,

our military and political leaders during my years of eligibility were perhaps much wiser than they have been in the past decade or so . . .but, I digress . . .)

This column is dedicated to the true history and meaning of Memorial Day. Whether you look upon servicemen as “heroes” (as in G.I. Joe) or consider them as employees of the American taxpayers, the day itself has a specific purpose. Once known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day is meant to be a day of remembrance of those who have died in wars. The specific origins of this occasion are murky at best.

Some sources date Memorial Day and related activities as far back as pre-Civil War times. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. It took almost thirty years for all of the “northern states” to acknowledge the holiday. “The South” refused to recognize it until sometime after World War I when the day officially became a time to honor not only Americans who died in the Civil War but in ANY war. Almost every state now officially celebrates Memorial Day on the last Monday of May. (This is one of the holidays the government manipulated in order to guarantee a three-day weekend. Check out the National Holiday Act of 1971.)

Sadly but not surprisingly, traditional observance of this holiday has diminished significantly over time. Many Americans have forgotten or perhaps never even truly learned the actual meaning and purpose of Memorial Day. Although there have been a few exceptions over the past few decades, the majority of Americans

need to be reminded if not re-educated about the true meaning of this day.

Congress making this day part of a three-day weekend may have distracted us from the solemnity and true spirit of the day.

As the VFW once stated: “Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day” and “contributed greatly to the general public’s nonchalant” attitude toward the holiday. In fact, there was a bill recently introduced in Congress, which proposed, “to restore the traditional day of observance of Memorial Day back to May 30th.”

One can only hope that someday Americans will no longer look upon this day as just another day off work and yet another excuse to drink and get drunk. Perhaps this Memorial Day we can ditch the debates and set aside our six packs and celebrate by honoring Americans who have died in wars.
My name is Phoenix. . . and . . .that's the bottom line.

Here Is To The Ladies Who Brought Us Into This World!

It was suggested to me by my editor that if I was going to do a piece on Mother’s Day it should be positive. Now I don’t mindlessly go along with the crowd. In fact, I generally feel that only those days on which I get “Holiday Pay” are truly holidays and that all too often, too many Americans use holidays as an excuse to drink and get drunk. Nevertheless, I know my Mom would certainly appreciate it more if I wrote something “nice”. So to honor the woman who gave birth to me I submit to you a little holiday history on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 10^th.

Initially it might seem a bit odd that it is celebrated on the traditional Christian day of worship because historians generally believe that the tradition of honoring mothers dates back to the Greeks and Romans. Mother goddesses were worshiped in both cultures during spring as well as religious celebrations.

While a March festival to honor the Roman Goddess Magna Mater (Great Mother) dates back to 250 B.C., the spread of Christianity throughout Europe replaced the pagan festivals with a celebration of the “Mother Church”. (Mind you, replacing pagan traditions with a Christian version is not unique. We have done it many times in the past. We “changed” Halloween, May Day, Christmas... but I digress . . .)

So let’s focus on Mother’s Day in America, shall we? While Julia Ward Howe, the lyricist to “Battle Hymn of the Republic”, was the first person to suggest the idea of a day to honor mothers, she was never taken seriously. For some reason, the actual commemoration of the holiday is attributed to Anna Jarvis. On the second anniversary of her mother’s death, the second Sunday in May, Jarvis convinced her mother’s parish in West Virginia to hold a celebration of Mother’s Day. In 1910, the state of West Virginia made Mother’s Day official. Four years later, President Woodrow Wilson designated it a national holiday.

Traditionally, Americans bring flowers and take their mothers to a meal. People unable to be with their mothers send cards or flowers to note the occasion. Mother’s Day, as we know it today, is not limited to the U. S. In fact, countries such as Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, India, Japan, Lebanon, Portugal, South Africa, Spain and Turkey also acknowledge the tradition though they don’t all observe it on the same day.

Anna Jarvis felt the holiday should strengthen familial bonds and increase respect for parents. She thought the important aspects of the day were “the gift of time and the giving of ourselves.” Paying tribute to our mothers is perhaps one of the few concepts that is universal the world over.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!

Weird Words and Phrases!

I have two degrees from Penn State

. One of them is in Secondary Education: English. Naturally, anyone who is going to teach English (in Pennsylvania anyway) has to take many courses in the language of America: English. (Now that I am living in California the significance does NOT always seem to hold as much weight as knowing a lazy version of SPANISH . . . but I digress . . .)

Despite the fact that I have read, heard and spoken English for a few decades now some of the words and phrases still make me wonder. Today we shall consider the eccentric examples:

“Flight of stairs”: Why do we call it a FLIGHT of stairs?Stairs don’t FLY. Stairs don’t even go anywhere. If they DO move anywhere we don’t call them stairs we call them an escalator.

Here is a more interesting one.

A “pair of panties”: You go to see your girlfriend and you retire to her boudoir. She slips into something more comfortable relieving herself of everything but her underpants. One piece of clothing remains between you and a slice of heaven. WHY do we say that now she is wearing a “pair of panties”?

WHY do we call it a “pair of panties”? Is it because it has a PAIR of leg holes? Is it called a “pair of panties” because of the number of ass cheeks it contains when worn? If I’m playing strip poker with a woman does she have to lose TWICE before she takes them off?

Luckily, I generally avoid this issue by dating a woman who “goes commando”. (There’s one for a future rant. Why do we say someone who doesn’t wear “undies” is going commando? Is my girlfriend going to rub shoe polish all over her face, belly-crawl across the floor and attack me from behind?)

Forgive me for my Andy Rooney moment, but you have to admit sometimes English can be a very foreign tongue!

The True Meaning Of Memorial Day

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