what an odd holiday this is. the date and time are the product of numerology, the armistice ending world war one went into effect on the 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month (what exactly did the person who was killed by a shot at 11:10 die for?)
in those days WWI was called "the war to end all wars." under the mistaken assumption that november 11th marked the last day of combat on earth, people started celebrating november 11th as "armistice day"--the day the armistice went into effect and wars ended forever. later they realized how horribly mistaken they were and the date was rebranded as "veterans' day" to extend the day's jurisdiction from honoring the end of one particular war to honoring veterans of all wars. as the ranks of veterans continue to be replenished, a holiday created to commemorate the beginning of an era of peace became a holiday which reminds us of ongoing wars. to truly honor the original meaning of this day, we would wish for an end to all war veterans. unfortunately, that doesn't even seem close these days.
but veterans' day has further problems. at first glance it seems redundant with memorial day (at second glance one realizes that memorial day honors dead veterans whereas veterans' day memorializes the living). memorial day also has some calendar-related advantages over veterans day. by design memorial day always give us a three day weekend each year and is strategically placed to allow everyone to run to the beach. veterans day, on the other hand, can fall on any day of the week and occurs at a time that people are just starting to hunker down for the winter. aside from public employees, few people get off from work on veterans day these days. it's easy to forget about it entirely until you wonder why the mail never arrived.
on the other hand, veterans seem to loom larger on veterans day than memorials do on memorial day. in that sense, the lack of celebration works in veterans' day's favor. memorial day has come to symbolize the beginning of summer and that significance has supplanted much of the day's original meaning. because veterans day is nothing else, it remains the day for veterans.
