Skip to main content

10 Reasons Why Memorial Day Is the Best Holiday

We all have our preferred holidays, of course, but some are under-appreciated when compared against the traditional favorites like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter. A case in point is Memorial Day which, when looked at objectively, not only compares to any of the five star holidays, but is actually superior to them all.


I'm aware that Memorial Day is a U.S. holiday and might not translate for everyone, but I tried to pick qualities that aren't really specific to America.

Below are ten reasons why Memorial Day is the best holiday of them all.
  1. Memorial Day always falls on a Monday. This guarantees a long weekend. Plus, Monday holidays are easier to plan around and less disruptive than a mid-week holiday where you get a day off and then have to drag yourself back to work for a day or two before the weekend.
  2. Memorial Day traditionally kicks off summer movie season and the release of highly-anticipated movies. Some of the notable and top grossing Memorial Day weekend movies releases include Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), The Hangover Part II (2011), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Sex and the City 2 (2010), and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014). 
  3. Good weather. Falling as it does near the end of May, the weather on Memorial Day
    is usually sunny and pleasant without being oppressively hot, like on the Fourth of July.
  4. Memorial Day is a "marker" or gateway holiday, signifying the arrival of summer. There are other such holidays, including Labor Day, which portends the winding down of summer and imminent arrival of fall, but Memorial Day remains the best, because of what you have to look forward to: three or four months of sunshine, short-sleeves, and flip flops.
  5. Extended family get-togethers are optional on Memorial Day! Family parties can be great but they're often required on other holidays. Not so on Memorial Day weekend! When you head out, you go because you want to and enjoy food and family.
  6. You can eat what you want. Good food can make a holiday all the more memorable, but it can also restrict if you're bound by custom or family tradition to serve the same fare year after year. Fortunately, Memorial Day is wide open. Grill, bake, or go out. It's your day to eat the way you want, and you can go ahead and do something totally different next year.
  7. Manageable expectations. People have modest or even low expectations for Memorial Day. Unlike Christmas, New Year's Day, or even the Fourth of July, when the pressure is higher and you need to buy gifts, entertain, or watch fireworks, Memorial Day doesn't demand as much and in fact can be an entire day of pure relaxation.
  8. Few Distractions. While there might be an NBA playoff or a baseball game on during Memorial Day, generally the holiday has few distractions and even sports fans can disengage for awhile and enjoy the weekend.
  9. Commercial-free! You don't have to buy gifts on Memorial Day and there are no Memorial Day cards to send! It's the ultimate non-commercial holiday. Even people who work in advertising take the day off.
  10. Because some gave all. I've had some fun with this, but let's not forget that the reason we have a day off the last Monday of every May. Memorial Day commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in military service. For this reason above all the others, I elevate Memorial Day as the holiday I appreciate most. Many men and women died to build this country which allow me to write posts like this, and I respect and do not take lightly their sacrifice.
Enjoy Memorial Day, everyone.
Labels:

Comments

  1. rantingnerd11:09 PM

    Very nice. I expect a similar one for Labor Day!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When Weak Connections are Valuable at Work

I recently contributed an article to Information Outlook, the online magazine of the Special Libraries Association (SLA). The title is "When Weak Connections are Valuable at Work", and it's about how new networking tools enable us to cultivate workplace connections with people we rarely (or never) see but who can help us in important ways. Download the article as a PDF or read the web version below. When Weak Connections are Valuable at Work (PDF) When Weak Connections are Valuable at Work If you’re not sure who the weak ties are in your social network, look at the contacts on your phone. Chances are, there are some people in your contacts list you don’t call (much less see) on a regular basis, but you find it useful to keep them listed for those occasions when you do need to contact them. Perhaps your doctor, babysitter, mechanic, or accountant fits this description. If you use a social network like LinkedIn or Twitter professionally, you will have even mo
2 comments
Read more

The Business Model Innovation Factory by Saul Kaplan (Book Review)

As a culture, we strive for personal transformation. Whether it's eating better and getting fit, redefining our professional value proposition through training and education, or simply trying to be kinder and gentler, we're constantly reinventing who we are and what we can do. We may not be successful all the time, or achieve breakthroughs like those featured on The Biggest Loser or facilitated by Tony Robbins , but millions of people successfully transform and reinvent themselves every year. Unfortunately, the very organizations where we work generally do not do the same. As Saul Kaplan elaborates in The Business Model Innovation Factory , most organizations struggle to transform from their core, initial business models and tend to become stagnant and vulnerable to disruptive competitors. The example Kaplan leads with is Blockbuster, which for a time owned the brick and mortar video and DVD rental space, until they were "netflixed" by a disruptive competitor (
20 comments
Read more

Electric Snow Blower?

UPDATE - 12/15/2009 After some back and forth, we went with the Snow Joe Ultra 622U1 13 Amp Electric Snow Thrower. I'll be commenting about its performance as the winter progresses and we use it regularly, but we already had a chance to try it last Thursday (12/10), when the first big Lake Effect snow of the season dumped more than a foot of snow on us here just south of Buffalo. Based on the test run, the Snow Joe performed admirably, handling the one foot high snow in our driveway without issue and essentially doing everything I expected of a powerful torque but lightweight snow thrower. ORIGINAL POST - 8/17/2009 I know it's only August, but I live in Buffalo, and you always need to think ahead about snow. The last two winters, we went without any snow removal machinery, and it hasn't been fun. The first winter I just shoveled, and the second we hired a plowing service. The plow service was better than shoveling all the time, but there were still too many times
24 comments
Read more