My Soapbox on Holidays.....

I am not one who usually hates holidays although I tend to become annoyed at the people who get excited as they fall into the trap of the commercialization and not the true sense of the holiday.  But Memorial Day is really the first holiday that I believe people really understand, reflect and celebrate for what it was meant for.  Yes this may be naive on my part and granted there are people who see it as a 3 days weekend to party but even at our campground, my parents Yacht club, and event the silly town parades they still try to bring forth the essence of the day.  I get so angry when I see stores push Memorial Day as the beginning of the Summer season so quick come in and buy your stuff.  Which only reminds me of the great comedian George Carlin's rant on what stuff is.  But I digress - In my memory of 48 years I have had no relations of mine die for my country in a war however every time I see or hear of someone who has it affects me personally.  I believe this is the most important holiday that we have.  Independence day is nice but again it is lost just as Christmas is.  If we are really celebrating our Independence we would be celebrating it on August 2nd.  And even more interesting depending on your religion Christmas is even harder to pin down to a true date.  One belief is that the Pope set aside December 25th for the celebration of Jesus Christ as the christian holiday could not compete with  other pagan celebration that happened around the the Winter Solstice. Wow that was a rant.  As I reread this I am reminded of the advice when out with friends one should never talk about politics or religion as it could get you in trouble.  Let me leave you with one of my favorite quotes that come from Randy Pausch, "The questions are always more important than the answers."