24 May Let’s Press Pause. And Remember.

Our lives are busy. Work, work, work. And now a federally mandated long weekend to spend with family and friends. Play, play, barbecue, play. But I hope we will all take some time this weekend to remember the reason we take this extra time every May to honor those who fought and gave everything for our Nation and our freedom.

Memorial Day became an official holiday in 1866 and was meant to honor the 620,000 Americans on both sides who died in the Civil War (though it was originally only to celebrate the fallen Union soldiers). USA Today notes that 644,000 Americans have died in all other US wars combined, making the Civil War the deadliest war in our history. Until 1971 Memorial Day was always celebrated on May 30, but after that it became the last Monday in May.

When I was a kid, my father, an Army vet, always put out the flag on Memorial Day and our family stood in front of it and recited the pledge of allegiance. We did this on July 4 every year as well. Not so much of that happening anymore (though we had a short resurgence of patriotic feelings after September 11). So how about a moment today or tomorrow to remember the fallen and all our troops and revel in our imperfect though awesome experiment started in the 18th Century still going strong and making us proud.