Party’s off, Garth…
Not all days are happy. Not all days should be.
He hailed me with a raised beer: “Happy Memorial Day!”
With a wave, I thanked him and moved on. A little puzzled.
Today shouldn’t be a “happy” day.
Memorial Day is about war and the lasting fruits of war…dead soldiers.
That’s not something we should be “happy” about. Death is, if you’ll pardon the expression, deadly serious. Life changing, if you will.
It’s not something to celebrate either…so why should we call a funeral “a celebration of life.” A life’s celebration should come before it’s over…
Death is what it is. Painful. Frightening. Mysterious. Permanent…at least from our earthly perspective. Most of all…unavoidable. So we do our best to avoid it … avoid thinking about it, acknowledging it, even mourning it.
Grief and sadness become unacceptable.
Memorial Day becomes “Happy” and funerals become “celebrations,” threatening to suck genuine laugher and rejoicing out of life.
If contemplating battlefield carnage is greeted as if it were the source of happiness; if the cremation of a loved one is cause for a celebration how shallow have our lives become? Only by knowing sorrow can we recognize contentment, truly experience exuberant joy.
Not all days are happy. Not all days should be
.