Memorial Day

The holiday we celebrate as Memorial Day originated in the years immediately following the American Civil War. The American Civil War was a long, bloody and destructive affair. Like most wars it began with dreams of it being a quick and victorious war. Like with most wars, both sides thought they'd quickly vanquish their enemies. But it turned into a long four year struggle, ending with battles in Virginia that approached World War II trench warfare. It ended with waves of soldiers dying attempt to assault entrenchments at Cold Harbor, and with a long siege of the trenches at Petersberg.

After the war, people tried to make sense of the slaughter. In the north, people had to believe it was all worth it. That the ideals for which the north fought the war had been worth all the sons and brothers and fathers who were now missing or crippled. In the south, the myth of the 'Lost Cause' quickly sprang up to give meaning to their own deaths and injuries.

But, another deep feeling in the country in those early Memorial Days had to be a questioning of whether it had all been worth it. A looking at the horrendous cost of war, and questioning as to whether or not there had been another way to resolve the issues without so much death and destruction.

Today, Memorial Day has become simply a second Veterans Day. We are all told to stand and salute the soldiers and sailors and airmen who are in lands far, far away performing the Orwellian phrase of 'defending America'. What we aren't supposed to do at all is to question whether or not it is worth it? Nor even to question whether America is being defended by invading countries on the far side of the world. And certainly not ever to look at the caskets with the flags, which we no longer see, and ask whether or not this was all necessary. Nor to think about how violence always seems to beget more violence, and usually makes the original problems worse.

I can't help but to think that some of the survivors of the American Civil War must have been asking some of the same questions as they decorated the fresh graves on the first 'Decoration Days'.

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From the Libertarian Right, Sheldon Richman seems to think the holiday needs a different name.
Happy Revisionist History Day