Nonchalance and Seasons

As one of the few places which closes for Memorial Day, I want to cast my vote for respecting all holidays beyond opportunities for vacations, cookouts, and anything but the purpose of the day.
http://www.usmemorialday.org/act.html The quote at the top of this site says it best:

"Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed greatly to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day." -- VFW 2002 Memorial Day address

This attitude spills over into our observance of almost every other holiday. Why not make them convenient? Even FirstGov bows to the cultural dissonance. We have tried to make everything else convenient so that we can "do it our way." Nonchalance easily turns to cynicism.

The least we can do is tune in to this: http://www.pbs.org/memorialdayconcert/
Look at the pictures from earlier days.

Here's a set of links from the North of Boston Library Exchange.

This site has set of links tracing the origin of the National holiday from a Civil War Battle of June 9, 1864.