Montini: It’s Memorial Day so … Merry Christmas

I got an e-mail last week from Jeannette and Jim Blaskowski. Jim served in Vietnam and was passing along an essay written by another Vietnam veteran, Jeff Seeber, who has grown irritated with people wishing him a happy Memorial day.

In his essay Seeber writes in part, “There is nothing Happy about Memorial Day. That's why it's called M-e-m-o-r-i-a-l Day! Memorial Day is to be commemorated, not celebrated. Memorial Day is supposed to be a day of quiet reflection, remembrance, tribute and rendering honors to those who have given their lives ensuring you nitwits can have the freedom to be able to take full advantage of the rights their deaths secured for you, one of which is the freedom to make ignorant statements like Happy Memorial Day.”

So what do we say then on this three-day weekend during which most people celebrate the beginning of summer with barbecues and trips to the lake and just about anything but the “quiet reflection” Seeber talks about?

What’s the proper greeting?

One option might be, “Merry Christmas.”

And if you choose for some reason not to say it, because it sounds silly or out of place, here is one reason to think it.

A kind of tribute.

A remembrance.

A while back I came upon a Christmas stocking in a file cabinet in my office. I wrote about this on Mother's Day. The Christmas arrived in a plain brown envelope addressed to me years ago, in the middle of the summer. There was no return address. The Christmas stocking is made of brown and tan military-style camouflage material and has “U.S. Marines” stitched onto it in red.

There is a pocket on the stocking and inside it is a note.

It reads: “We were going to give this to our son when he returned from his most recent tour. But he died over there. You mentioned him in a column a while back with the names of others who were lost. Thanks for that. Don’t forget them.” It is signed, “A Marine’s mom.”

It’s Memorial Day so … Merry Christmas.