No Agenda Day Off...

is what I like to think of when holidays such as Memorial Day roll around.  I have no relatives or friends who died in military service.  I don't have a grill and I don't drink beer that often.

Of course, I understand and respect that the holiday does carry, for a lot of people, a time to remember and respect loved ones of our military who have risked their lives and died for our freedom.  It's beginnings vary, I believe, but can be traced back to a time when soldiers of the civil war period were commemorated with flowers placed upon the graves of those lives lost during battle.

However, there are many people who like to celebrate Memorial Day with barbecues and beer.  It's funny to me how these folks are conditioned by commercialism and buy into the idea of "grillin' and chillin'. I have even seen comments on my Facebook page about, "just sittin' here in the backyard grillin' and drinkin' a beer" activity like that's the most novel thing a person could do on a day off.   Afterwards, many of these folks never touch their grills for the remainder of the summer and many of them probably spend their summer days inside, in front of the television, with their beer in one hand and the remote controller in the other hand.

I had to laugh yesterday when, finally, after a weekend of downpours and miserable temperatures, the clouds began to roll away and the sun made a momentous appearance by days end.  At that time, I kid you not, like weird programming, neighbors emerged like clockwork from their homes to light the fires of their grills.  It was kind of surreal.  I mean, really?  I saw not a soul all weekend.  So, was everyone sitting around all weekend waiting for the rain to stop so they could run outside and start the grill? At days end?

I probably sound crazy to some of you reading this but I notice these things.  It's really hard for someone like me (a cynical ass by nature) to not think about these things and respond.  I know I should be a more positive human being.  I should really turn over a new leaf and think of Memorial Day as the marker for the beginning of summer grilling and cultivating a jiggling beer gut.

Unfortunately, I can do neither when it comes to holidays like Memorial Day.  I don't fall into any of the above categories.  For me, I simply have to appreciate a day to relax and hopefully not forcibly do anything much at all.