Outside Perception
Amin n'rangwa edanea
Memorial Day 2012 — Remember Why!
It’s Memorial Day Weekend. If you know what Memorial day is for then GREAT! I’m proud of you. If not, well I will tell you. Memorial day, which was originally called Decoration Day is for us to remember those people who died serving their country. We had been doing this individually long before and official tie was sanctioned. In 1868 by General John Logan in made it official in a general order, makes sense to me that it was a soldier and not a politician who started the whole thing. As I was researching this I discovered several southern States have separate days to honor the dead of Confederate soldiers from the civil war and they still do to this day since technically they didn’t fight for the United States.
Today though… today we celebrate Hot-dogs and Hamburgers combined with copious amounts of alcohol. I understand, not all of us but it has very much gone form a day of remembrance after Congress changed the date to give federal workers a three day weekend. Thats fine I like a good BBQ as well. We should celebrate the freedoms that we’re paid for by the blood sweat and tears of our fallen soldiers. I think they would like that, I know I would. I would just like to suggest that you do take a moment to remember. Here are some thing you should or can do.
1) The flag is to be flown at half-staff until noon, and then at full-staff until sunset. The standard flag rules say to take the flag down at sunset, unless you have it properly illuminated, in which case you can leave it up all night, too. When raising the flag to half-staff, first raise it quickly to full-staff, then slowly down to half-staff.
2) If you attend the various parades remember to take your hat off and hold your hand over your heart as the Flag passes.
3) If you want to volunteer some of your time.Many cemetery’s place flags on veterans headstones and such on memorial day.
4)On Memorial day itself at 3pm pause for one minute and remember those who have fallen in defense of our country. This is a National Moment and was started on May 2nd 2000.
The soldiers themselves do something nice at Arlington National Cemetery. On the Thursday before Memorial day the soldiers of the 3rd US infantry place small American flags on each of the gravestones, they then patrol the grounds over the weekend to replace or fix any flags that may fall. I think that is very cool and I’m glad since my Father is buried there. Next year I’m going to go help them. I just found this out. The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts do similar things minus the patrolling.
I want you all to have a safe and fun holiday weekend, I also just want everyone to take just a moment to remember why your off from work. A moment a minute… say thanks.
One other thing… tell your kids why they have off from school while you are BBQ’ing. The cost of freedom…
Here is a nice video I found that I liked.
Related articles
- Memorial Day (kleinsoldmine.com)
- Memorial Day 2012 (mye1212.wordpress.com)
- Giving Thanks This Memorial Day (smithgroupit.wordpress.com)
Spread the Word!!!
5 Comments on “Memorial Day 2012 — Remember Why!”
Leave a reply.
Outside Perception 
I really loved this post. I agree that it’s so very important to take time to remember and reflect on Memorial day. I also agree that Memorial day weekend is a perfect time to remind our children, Many parents assume the school is teaching them this, but the truth always bears more weight when it comes from mom or dad. I will be raising my flag to half staff according to the instructions above {i learned something new here, Thank you!} Great Post!!
LikeLike
Pingback: In search of America for Memorial Day — Part 1 of 4 | A View From The Middle (Class)
Pingback: Let’s Not Forget What Memorial Day Weekend is Really All About – The High Cost of Freedom – Forbes « My Spanish Translator
Pingback: Memorial Day: Are You Actually Observing What the Day Really Means? « Wisconsin State Treasury
Great post…and thanks for the pingback…
LikeLike