It's Not About the Barbecue dammit.

Monday 27th May 2019.  Memorial Day  (U.S.A.)

(with thanks to Karen N, Chris G, Mark D, and Mitch H who reminded me of some important truths)



Memorial Day is an official U.S. Federal Holiday. It's a day off work for some (but not for those who work in retail or in hospitality).

In the colder northern States it's reckoned to be the start of the summer barbecue season  -  just another holiday.  But it's not about the barbecue dammit!  

Here's what it is about




 Memorial Day  (first known as Decoration Day - when the graves of  those killed in the Civil War were decorated);was popularly known as Memorial Day; and later given that name by official acts of first the State of New York, and later the Federal Government (1967).

The first Memorial Day (as officially recognised by the U.S. Congress) took place in Waterloo, N.Y. in 1866.  A Waterloo Pharmacist said that it was all very well to celebrate the courage of living soldiers from the Civil War, but shouldn't there also be a solemn commemoration of those who were killed in that war.


Thus it should be that the first duty of patriotic Americans next Monday should be a solemn (and perhaps prayerful) reflection on the terrible cost of War:   young women and men cut down in the prime of life; all too many spouses, children, parents, siblings and dear friends left bereft and with a lifetime of grief.

The terrible cost of war:

620,000 military deaths  (Confederate and Union soldiers mowed down  in the War between the States). 

58.200 American military deaths in the Viet Nam war. 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong deaths

8.5 to 9.7 Million military deaths in World War I.  

 AGAIN    Thus it should be that the first duty of patriotic Americans next Monday should be a solemn (and perhaps prayerful) reflection on the terrible cost of War

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As you think and pray I remind you of what is sometimes called (in an Orwellian way) Collateral Damage.

 In World War One. Ten million civilian deaths

 In Vietnam. Two million civilian deaths in north and south.

 In World War Two and the blitz of the the U.K.  43,000 civilian deaths.

 In  World War Two British Fire Bombings of Hamburg and Dresden (militarily unnecessary) 66,600 civilian deaths, many burned alive.

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ENJOY YOUR MONDAY BBQ

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