MEMORIAL DAY MESSAGE

************************************* ************************************* Greetings and Salutations to All my Kith and Kin and All the Ships in Outer Space: Please click on THIS LINK to read the Memorial Day Message from the Honorable Steven M. Palazzo, the Republican from the Fourth Congressional District of Mississippi in the United States House of Representatives.  Before I really get started with expressing my own personal thoughts and/or feelings, I want to make a very necessary correction to a common misconception and grievous error repeatedly perpetuated within Congressman Palazzo's Memorial Day Message. In the year of our Lord, Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-One (1861), there was NO "rebellion", "treason", and/or so-called "Civil War". By definition, a civil war happens when opposing forces within the same country are fighting for control of the same government. The war for independence being fought on the American continent in Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-One (1861) was between two (02) separate and distinct sovereign nations, i.e., the United States of America and the Confederate States of America, with each of those two (02) nations having its own government, its own economy, and fielding its own army. In virtually every facet, that exact scenario was identical to the War for Independence waged by the American colonists against England in Seventeen Hundred and Seventy-Six (1776). Now, on to what I think - - - , Are all of you folks enjoying the celebration of your federally mandated holiday TODAY, Monday 27 May 2013? Oh, WHEN, oh WHEN are folks finally going to realize there is a HUGE difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day? Memorial Day and Veterans Day are NOT synonymous! "REFLECTIONS", painted by LEE TETER To begin with, I choose to ignore the federally mandated Monday holiday, and instead, insist on observing the traditional Memorial Day, which will be on Thursday 30 May 2013, my sister, Suzy's birthday.  Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, should be solemnly observed, NOT "celebrated", for it is a day for remembering and honoring our nation's military dead, a custom which actually began in Georgia when a Union Army general, John A. Logan, of Murphysboro, Illinois, observed widows and mothers caring for the graves of Confederate soldiers. Parades, bands, fireworks, and festivities are inappropriate on Memorial Day. Note, also, that Memorial Day is specifically designated for honoring our MILITARY dead. Folks have three hundred and sixty-four (364) other days when they can put flowers on their Great Aunt Bertha's grave. On the other hand, Veterans Day, originally known as Armistice Day, a traditional national holiday which commemorates the Armistice of the First World War, IS an appropriate occasion for celebrations and festivities, as we rejoice and honor all military veterans, living or dead. In acknowledgement of that historic moment in Nineteen Hundred and Eighteen (1918), all scheduled Veterans Day activities traditionally begin at precisely the Eleventh Hour on the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month. Them there's MY thoughts on the subject. Now, what are YOUR thoughts? Thank you. John Robert Mallernee  Armed Forces Retirement Home  1800 Beach Drive, Unit 311  Gulfport, Mississippi  39507 ************************************* *************************************