I agree with you Az Joe in principle, but I feel that most people are unknowingly ignorant of this distinction, and we should go easier on them when they mix up these two days. They almost always mean well. I generally don’t admonish or correct them
I don’t blame this on the public. I blame it on the politicians and the media.
I blame them because when they don’t do it out of ignorance, they willfully conflate these two days of commemoration.
And they do it because telling us on Veterans Day just how much they do for veterans just isn’t enough for them.
They have to do it on Memorial Day, because even though those veterans who lost their lives aren’t supposed to vote (and that likely happens) it just happens to give them another day to try to make people forget what politicians don’t do for veterans for the other 363 days of the year.
At the ceremonies in our town, we had two politicians who got up, one a State Rep, and the other on the board of Selectmen.
The State Rep talked about all she did for veterans with her votes on legislation, and the Selectman talked about his favorite war movie, “Saving Private Ryan”.
When the State Rep started in on her “division in this country, insurrectionists, blah blah blah and how we have to fight for the Constitution (regardless of the fact that it is only the parts of the Constitution SHE thought should be fought for, and given her voting record, it isn’t the part in the Constitution about keeping and bearing arms that she is virulently opposed to) it made me want to stand up and say “Shame on you! This isn’t what this day is for!” and even thought about standing up and turning my back on the speaker.
But that isn’t what this day is for either. So I sat there and gritted my teeth. Especially when both of these speakers said how there was so much division in this country and how we had to be unified instead of divisive.
I will tell you, having had experience with both of these Leftists and watching how they operate at a local town meeting, being “unified” means agreeing with them and being “divisive” means holding any opinion other than theirs.
They advocated passing legislation at this town meeting to build hundreds of units of “affordable housing” in our small town that has the 13th highest tax rate in the state, and when a gentleman went up to the microphone to ask if veterans would have access to take advantage of this “low income housing”, he was told by these very people attending the Memorial Day service in an official fashion that no, they would not have access, until all people of “protected classes” were given access first.
That made my blood boil, and I got up to ask them to define “protected classes” and these people hemmed and hawed for several seconds, acting in the parlance of that famous song “Uneasy Rider” as if their heads were on fire and their asses were catching.
How dare I ask this question, and I heard a “who said anything about “protected classes” (even though it had been said at least three times in their answer to that gentleman) but to at least someone’s credit in that town government, he must have been listening to that answer his comrade gave, and did allow that the term had been used.
I knew what they meant by “protected classes” before I asked the question, but I wanted to hear their definition. Their definition was “quotas” based on the melanin content of people’s skin. But as soon as I began to say “In other words, racial quotas” they cut off my microphone.
So they were saying, if you served this country, you won’t be given consideration for this low income housing unless your skin color is that of a “protected class”.
And these same people, purveyors of institutionalized racism that specifically excludes veterans had the gall to get in front of this crowd of people and talk about their accomplishments while specifically denying veterans access to even be considered for this low income housing.
Again-this ceremony, which should have been a solemn one to commemorate those who died in the service of this country, was used by them to burnish their own credentials.
It made me sick. But, as this was not the time or place, with that list of veterans who gave their lives on the wall in back of them reinforcing the reason we were there to memorialize these men who served, I did not stand up or say anything to point out their hypocrisy.
But I will say this: I wasn’t the only one. I talked to several veterans in observance who felt as I did.
But they should be corrected. Az Joe could have used a much more conciliary way of correcting them I’ll agree, but he was correct to address their ignorance nonetheless. Az Joe should learn the concept that honey usually has better results than does vinegar in garnering support.