The structural anguish of Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day. For most Americans, it's the kickoff to summer. For a subset of Americans, it's a marker of the worst thing that ever happened to their family. That's a sobering dichotomy. The unambiguously good development of fewer war deaths and fewer American combat veterans has shifted the dynamics between the two groups; in 1955, a lot more Americans had a family member or personal friend who died in combat than today. The entire cultural shadow of WWII is just obviously way less noticeable than when I was growing up in the 80s, and I presume that shadow was nothing compared to the 50s. This makes it possible, I think, to completely avoid the meaning of Memorial Day now in way you could not in the past. It really is National BBQ day for many people. You can have a get-together with a lot of people and have no collective connection to the war dead. And leads to a fair amount of awkward cultural norms, like "Happy Memorial Day" or VP Harris' modestly-tone-deaf "Enjoy the…