We will celebrate eleven Federal Holidays during 2024. As we are on the cusp of the Memorial Day Weekend – the unofficial start of summer for at least those of us who live in the northern reaches of the country – ponder whether, of the eleven, Memorial Day is not the most significant.
All of our Holidays have some enduring significance (or, at least virtually all; I suspect that we might take Columbus Day back if we could 😉 ); some are obviously vested with deep meaning.
We observe the birthdays of three great Americans: those of Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln on the same day in February and that of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., in January; we recognize service on Labor Day and Veterans’ Day; and we acknowledge the nation’s tragic legacy of slavery and racism on Juneteenth National Independence Day.
New Year’s Day and Christmas Day each fit in their own conceptual categories. New Year’s seems a required bookkeeping entry; not unimportant as such, but each new year is going to come around whether our nation continues or not. As for Christmas – one of the holiest days of the year for Christians like me – one might nonetheless question its inclusion as a national holiday in a land with citizens of many faiths and no faith, governed by a Constitution that provides that its legislature shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.
Thanksgiving Day is probably my favorite national holiday, and celebrates one of the most worthy of human emotions: gratitude for the gifts one and one’s family and friends have received in this life. That said, the gift of freedom that we enjoy and for which we give thanks every November had to be earned.
Finally, what about the Fourth of July? The date of our nation’s founding is an understandably hallowed day for all Americans. Had the Founding Fathers not declared our independence, we’d have no country; the principle of equality upon which our nation is based would never have come into being. But I would suggest that there are 20 guys in some corner of the world declaring independence from something or other as you read this who, like thousands before them, will never be heard of or from again. The literal establishment of a nation is, of course, essential to its being; but I would submit that it is the subsequent offering of those who sacrifice to sustain and replenish it that is most worthy of our honor, tribute, and recognition.
Whether or not you agree with my characterization of the relative importance of our Federal Holidays, as we celebrate this Memorial Day, may we each give a moment to remember the sacrifices of the men and women we have marked this day to honor: those who throughout our history have sacrificed to preserve and protect our freedom – both those who have given, in the words of Mr. Lincoln at Gettysburg, “the last full measure of devotion,” and also those who have ever after borne the physical and emotional scars of their sacrifice.
Enjoy the Holiday.
McCoy's Noise 