Memorial Day 2010
Today, May 31st 2010 was observed as “Memorial Day” in these United States.
By coincidence in this year, the day was also a holiday in the U.K. - known there as Spring Bank Holiday Monday. (In the “olden days” the U.K. holiday was observed on the Monday after Whitsun, ( a.k.a. “The Day of Pentecost” in the Christian calendar), and was called Whit Monday.
Here is a bit of the history of the American “Memorial Day”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day
With that history in mind I took myself to Main Street in Sarasota for our Memorial Day Parade. It was not very grand!
The “stars” were members of the junior ROTC Corps from Riverview High School, and Booker High School, together with the band from Sarasota High School (whose moniker is the “Sarasota Sailors”)
Junior ROTC strands for the (Junior) “Reserve Officers Training Corps”.
The “Rotsee” (R.O.T.C.) students from Booker and Riverview High Schools marched with great precision and discipline. They put to shame the students from our Charter School - the “Sarasota Military Academy” - whose participation in the parade was lackluster and desultory.
As we used to say in Great Britain “one volunteer is better than ten pressed-men”.
The Rotsee students are volunteers. The Sarasota Military Academy students are “pressed-men”.
ABOVE ALL ELSE to thine own self be true!
By coincidence in this year, the day was also a holiday in the U.K. - known there as Spring Bank Holiday Monday. (In the “olden days” the U.K. holiday was observed on the Monday after Whitsun, ( a.k.a. “The Day of Pentecost” in the Christian calendar), and was called Whit Monday.
Here is a bit of the history of the American “Memorial Day”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day
With that history in mind I took myself to Main Street in Sarasota for our Memorial Day Parade. It was not very grand!
The “stars” were members of the junior ROTC Corps from Riverview High School, and Booker High School, together with the band from Sarasota High School (whose moniker is the “Sarasota Sailors”)
Junior ROTC strands for the (Junior) “Reserve Officers Training Corps”.
The “Rotsee” (R.O.T.C.) students from Booker and Riverview High Schools marched with great precision and discipline. They put to shame the students from our Charter School - the “Sarasota Military Academy” - whose participation in the parade was lackluster and desultory.
As we used to say in Great Britain “one volunteer is better than ten pressed-men”.
The Rotsee students are volunteers. The Sarasota Military Academy students are “pressed-men”.
ABOVE ALL ELSE to thine own self be true!
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