Have Americans Forgotten The True Meaning Of Memorial Day?

Memorial Day was first celebrated in 1868, originally called Decoration Day, as a day to honor Union soldiers who died in the Civil War. We assume that it was a solemn day set aside to remember the sailors and soldiers that paid the ultimate price during the long drawn out war between brothers and fellow countrymen.

Back then there were no Memorial Day sales at the local general store that was hyped in the town's newspaper. For that matter there probably no giant sales on mattress' either.

The war had just finished 3 years earlier in April of 1865 and most American families were touched by the sheer amount of deaths during the war. Estimates of close to 700,000 people died in the 4 year calamity that literally and figuratively tour the nation apart. So, honoring the dead was a very simple gesture that pretty much all of America could get behind.

The ensuing century brought 2 World Wars, The Korean War, The Vietnam War and the first Gulf War. With more American men and women dying, the desire to pay respect to the dead continued. In 1968, Congress changed its observance to the last Monday in May, and in 1971 standardized its name as "Memorial Day".

According to a new poll, half of Americans think Memorial Day has "lost its original meaning."  52% think it's true, and they might be right.

40% say remembering America's fallen troops is NOT the first thing they associate with Memorial Day anymore.

60% say it still is, but age matters.  Just 48% of Gen Z'ers said yes, compared to 76% of Baby Boomers.

Nearly 1.2 million men and women have given their lives over the past 250 years

So, this Memorial Day weekend as we now use as the "unofficial kick off to summer", be sure to take some time to remember those that gave their all. If you have children, maybe you can take some time to remind them of what the true meaning of the day is, and not just a day to grill out and chill out.

They give their all, the least we could do is remember them for it.