COMMENTARY: 'Happy' Memorial Day? That butchers the point

By Judge Michael Warren In the first week of this month, seven U.S. soldiers were killed in combat and another four were killed the next week. They join a huge list of soldiers who have laid down their lives for our country since its birth. We have just finished the Memorial Day weekend. Memorial Day is intended to honor our sacred dead. Instead, for most people not personally touched by the sacrifices of our brave military, it is an empty excuse for a three-day weekend, sales and to break out white outfits. Just before the weekend, I had a least a dozen people personally tell me "Happy Memorial Day." That butchers the point. On May 5, 1868, General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, promulgated General Order No. 11, which was the first official promulgation of Memorial Day. General Order No. 11 provided that flowers would be placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers on May 30, 1868. In the Order, General Logan reflected he hoped it would become an annual tradition and it did. With World War I, that tradition expanded to include all war dead. General Logan's Order stated: "Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic." Indeed. Eventually Congress officially established Memorial Day as a legal holiday and made it a Monday. All too soon, the three-day weekend became commercialized and Logan's point was lost. That Memorial Day will ever entirely recover its nature is a hopeless cause--the commercialization and habits of generations have undermined it too much. That is why my then 10-year old daughter Leah and I created Patriot Week--with hope of establishing a new civic calendar to renew the spirit of America. Patriot Week celebrates the First Principles, Founding Fathers and other Patriots, vital documents and speeches and flags that make America the greatest nation in world history. Like Memorial Day, many of current holidays have become overly commercialized or have lost their deeper meaning. We need to invigorate our appreciation and understanding of America's spirit. Anchored by the key dates of September 11 (the anniversary of the terrorists attacks) and September 17 (Constitution Day, the anniversary of the signing of the Constitution), Patriot Week does just that. Patriot Week is a grassroots effort that has taken off in Michigan and elsewhere. Without such a civic renewal, we are doomed to forget what makes America unique and lose ourselves in the process--a fate too terrible to contemplate. America needs your help. To learn more, visit www.PatriotWeek.org. ---------------- Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Michael Warren is the presiding judge of the General Civil and Criminal Division, a former member of the State Board of Education, chair of Cornerstone Schools Association, and co-creator of Patriot Week. Published: Fri, May 31, 2013