Holidays

I caught the tail end of a piece on the radio describing an effort (or a trial balloon) to get 9/11 declared a national day of remembrance. I gather the idea was that it be something like Memorial Day.

I don't know exactly how they meant this. A day to memorialize the civilians who were killed by our enemies might work, as a parallel to the day to memorialize the soldiers who were killed fighting our enemies.

But the shape of our language suggests why this might not work very well. We talk about "celebrating" a holiday: we "celebrate" Memorial Day on Monday. Some people say "observe Memorial Day", just as they "observe Lent", but most of us "celebrate" the time off for official holidays.

If we're going to "celebrate" a day, let's not celebrate Pearl Harbor day but VE day or VJ day. Not 9/11 but 9/12; not disaster but hope.

Granted, we would benefit from a little corporate fasting and prayer and a day of mourning now and then--we've festivals enough and it is good to recognize the other aspects of life. But days of mourning (*) appointed by the government don't nourish the soul very much. Which is not surprising: It's absurd to expect to be spiritually uplifted and inspired by our own machinery.

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(*) Such as everyone's favorite?