Fifteen Years Later

Today is the fifteenth anniversary of the terrorist attack on the United States. It is signified by a national day by presidential proclamation, Patriot Day observed as National Day of Service and Remembrance. It was designated in memory of the people killed on September 11, 2001 by the cowardly terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C. and in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

I took this photo when I visited
Ground Zero on 10/12/2015.

There are four original Federal holidays:

1. New Year's Day
2. Independence Day
3. Thanksgiving Day
4. Christmas Day

In 1968, the Monday Holiday Act of 1968 shifted several holidays to always fall on a Monday and saw the establishment of Columbus Day. In 1983, the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. became the nation's most recently established holiday. [Wikipedia] As of this date, there are eleven Federal holidays. The other three Federal holidays not listed in this list or the list below are: Inauguration Day (every four years), Washington's Birthday and Labor Day.

There are also defunct national days. June 25, 1987 was the last celebration of National Catfish Day. Oh, woe is me.

The U.S. has many national days by presidential proclamation. We have more than fifty of these days.
Two proclamations share the same day. May first is Law Day, U.S.A. and Loyalty Day. Many of the national days go unnoticed and are not celebrated. For instance, February 15 is Susan B. Anthony Day. March 10 is Harriet Tubman Day. May 22 is National Maritime Day. August 26 is Women's Equality Day. There are many more for some legitimate reason were designated by a president as a National Day. That doesn't mean they're observed by everyone or by the government as a paid day off. There are five days that are observed as a National Day and as a public holiday. These are:

1. Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday (3rd Monday in January)
2. Memorial Day (last Monday in May)
3. Columbus Day (2nd Monday in October)
4. Veteran's Day (November 11)
5. Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday in November)

Other important or noted National Days by presidential proclamation include:

• 2nd Sunday in May: Mother's Day
• June 14: Flag Day and National Flag Week
• 3rd Sunday in June: Father's Day
• September 11: Patriot's Day
• December 7: National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

For most of these days whether they fall on a weekday or not, go unnoticed. People go to work or school and carry on their usual business. For holidays that fall on a Sunday or weekend, people may celebrate among themselves or with family and friends. Most of the fifty plus proclaimed National Days are mere footnotes briefly mentioned on a morning news program.

There are two holidays where Americans celebrate en masse. Independence Day and for the last fifteen years, Patriot's Day. These two days have more significance than all the other holidays. Why? Well, to state the obvious, Independence Day is a celebration where we declared freedom from the tyrannical hold of the British Empire. There is much group celebration: parades, concerts, picnics, public displays of patriotism, and pledges to the American way of living. 

Patriot's Day is a little more somber. Or at least it has been or should be by most opinions. It was a day, not since Pearl Harbor, where America felt the sting of aggression by a foreign source where our safety and security and the threat of the American way of living had been challenged. We gather but not in celebration but for remembrance of the loss of innocent lives and the wounding of a nation's psyche. Unfortunately, it sometimes takes an event like this to unite a people. For months afterwards, we were at one as a mindset. As with many things new, though tragic, this too faded and we slipped back into our old Me Generation attitudes. 

Many of us get to celebrate these holidays with a day off from work or school. Some with pay; some without pay. And if you're in retail, you usually don't get to celebrate time off at least not until your shift is over. Which brings me to the real crux of this piece.

How should retail businesses celebrate holidays?

Well, as much as it irks me, they usually do it with sales. Independence day sales. Columbus day sales. Thanksgiving day sales. These annoy me a little. I know. We all have to make a living. But where do we set the line of good taste. When is it wrong to use a holiday or day of remembrance? Is it wrong to use such a day for self-benefit? For instance, is it wrong to have Memorial Day or Veterans Day sales? I think it is. I believe Americans have forgotten why we have those holidays. These holidays were set down as days to remember those who gave their lives so we can have better lives. Not too get an extra 20% off on an already marked down sofa. Lives where we can have that long weekend? Where we can race down to the Jersey shore or up into the Poconos, Adirondacks or to Mackinac Island? In most cases only government offices and schools are closed on Veterans Day. I am positive no one is using that time to remember our men and women who served this country in uniform and fought on foreign soil, some that died or those who returned home broken, forever changed and often forgotten by their government.

This past week a family-owned mattress retailer in San Antonio, Texas did what the majority of Americans deemed unthinkable and unforgivable. They aired a television commercial for a 9-11 mattress sale. What were they thinking? Did they go too far? The vast majority will say, Yes, they did. A minority will say that as Americans it's their right to celebrate or show remembrance in their own way. Though it's been fifteen years, the sting of the event is very fresh in all our minds. Was it the sale that offended us? No, not really; maybe a little. Too soon? Forever would be too soon. It most likely was the commercial itself. Many agree that it was in poor taste. I will not give it recognition by posting it here. If you search YouTube for 9/11 mattress commercial, you'll find it. SMH.

Let's stop and think about this. Does anyone recall any retailer having a Pearl Harbor day bomb of a blowout sale? NO! Furk, no!! Why would anyone have such a sale? Ridiculous. And that happened nearly twenty years before I was born, over sixty years ago. And I firmly believe that a hundred years from now it would still be too soon to have such a sale. How could any group of people think that a tragedy like the 9/11 attacks would be good sales fodder? You'd have to be from, well, Texas. Maybe they think just a little bit different in San Antone than the rest of the U.S. IDK. There are certain dates and events that just should not be toyed with. We have become desensitized to the spirit of these days. We think of them more for what we can do for ourselves than what we should do for the greater good of the country. Not every holiday is a celebration. I am sure some asshole in my neighborhood tonight will be setting off fireworks. The neighborhood pyromaniacs need not much encouragement to set off small armaments. They do it on Mother's day, for Chrissakes.

Today starts the NFL season. There will be football played in every corner of this country. I am sure there will be flag draped fields. Fifty yards of American flag being displayed held by a few hundred uniformed service men and women. There will be moments of silence and the National Anthem will be played. Some tears may be shed. Lumps may form in many of our throats. Maybe a few words of remembrance will be spoken. Afterwards, football will be played and business as American as usual. 

And that's okay. Because as Americans we have learned to persevere and adapt. We will continue to have our American way of living preserved. We will have our traditions. We will continue to be Americans and fight the fight to keep our place in history that we made over two hundred years ago. Yes, we are not perfect. Yes, we need to fix our race relations, our sexual preferences issues, our gender inequalities, but we have one thing countries in the middle east will never have - a system where we can make changes to make ourselves even better and greater. 

Donald Trump has got it all wrong. We don't need to Make America Great Again. We need to Keep Making America Greater. We also have the ability to forgive ourselves for our own thoughtlessness. As one of several million Americans, I forgive or absolve that mattress company's owners and the people involved with that commercial's production for their lack of thought, guidance and taste. I hope they've learned from their error and can move forward following along the path of keeping others' feelings in mind before they spend thousands of dollars on a commercial that could potentially ruin their business ... FOREVER.

So. Go out and celebrate everything American today, but take a moment to remember why and how we got here. Because as Americans we all are part of the equation that nets to the greatness of the U.S.A. Until the next time my head figuratively explodes, have a safe and joyful day. TTFN.