this week, a friend in russia and a friend in uzbekistan each wished me happy victory day. victory day commemorates the end of world war two, or at least the war in europe. it is celebrated across the former soviet union on may 8th and 9th.
we don't have a holiday to celebrate the end of world war two. actually, we don't have a holiday to celebrate the end of any particular war. the closest we have is veterans day, which used to commemorate the end of world war one, but now is just used to honor veterans in general. that is, when it's celebrated at all.
i'm not really sure if our lack of end-of-war celebration is a good thing or bad thing. celebrating war doesn't interest me. if wars are justified at all, it's because they are a necessary evil, which is still evil. but victory day is in honor of the end of a war. in these times of the war against terror, where the adversary is an abstract concept and thus can never be won, celebrating the fact that another war did end doesn't seem all that bad.
