I don’t have a vested interest in Memorial Day. Although I have had many veterans in my family—father, both grandfathers, an uncle—none of them died in combat.
However, in recent years, I’ve become aware of a troubling trend: that of treating every holiday with a generic “Happy ____” greeting. This is probably fine for everything except Memorial Day.
Granted, not every person who loses a loved one is going to a cemetery today. The thing is, they are likely to think about a lost soldier, or even a veteran parent who is no longer with us. The “thank you for your service” tag is applicable to all of them, whether they fought a battle or not. At least, that’s how those from military families seem to position it.
So “Have a great weekend” or “Have a great holiday” may suffice. But adjectives like “happy” or even “blessed” probably shouldn’t be in there.
