Forget Memorial Day

America needs something different

The 250-year history of the United States of America is (unfortunately) filled with untold stories of war and violence. While our founding documents may have been penned in ink, they were consummated by the spilling of British blood. Americans have collectively known less than two decades of peace in our entire history. With such a bloody backstory, it’s little wonder that over a million American soldiers and women have died while serving.

In 1868, fallen Union soldiers were honored with “Decoration Day,” during which local citizens left flowers at gravesites of those who fell during the Civil War. Soon, similar holidays spread throughout the country, and were eventually expanded to include all American servicemembers who died while serving. In 1971, Congress dubbed the day “Memorial Day” — the last major change to the holiday.

However, as these things tend to do (especially in America), today Memorial Day is less about honoring our fallen servicemembers and is more about a three-day weekend (complete with disappointing afternoon baseball) and the unofficial start to summer. America’s fallen heroes deserve more than that.

If I were in charge of fixing this, the first thing I would do is resign. If that wasn’t an option, I would expand “Memorial Day” into “Memorial Month,” running from Memorial Day (last Monday in May) until July 3rd. Each day of the “month” features a different story of military heroics that required the ultimate sacrifice. Branches of the military already have media teams (with existing budgets), and they absolutely LOVE talking about their history. Send these teams out to actual battleground sites to recreate the scenario faced by the original soldier. If possible, interview survivors for first-hand accounts. Tell the story in 20-30 minute segments — sort of like the History channel back when they did history. Blast the shows onto all the streaming platforms (for free) or even onto network television so the stories actually penetrate into the national consciousness.

My perfect world would also incorporate age-appropriate educational materials that tie along with the productions, but I don’t know how well that would go over in the current educational environment.

After a “month” of remembering and celebrating the heroes who died for America, on July 4th we celebrate the culmination of those sacrifices: Still being around to celebrate the anniversary of our independence. That seems like a natural evolution to me, and a wonderful way to honor our fallen soldiers.

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