Last month, there was a plethora (Si, El Guapo, I know what a plethora is) of memage on the interwebs regarding the decoration of homes, offices and people for Halloween, and the lengths some people will go to celebrate all things spooky.
(Memage, by the way, is my totally made-up word for the continual creation of memes on social media, because I have an incredible memagination.)(See what I did there?)
Now (well, and earlier, too) there’s the inevitable posting of the extra-plethoric memology claiming that now that Halloween is now over, it’s time to switch to Christmas.
I’m here to lobby for the two holidays that occur in this country between these two decoration juggernauts — Veterans Day and Thanksgiving.
Sure, a lot of people use the standard run-of-the-Walmart-aisle fall decorations of pumpkins and scarecrows and wreaths of fallen leaves to sort of work for Thanksgiving, but that’s not really holiday decoration, it’s seasonal. Now, if you had young kids who made turkey posters with their handprints and crayons, and maybe a few snippets of yarn, or in a pinch one of those collapsable folding crepe turkeys, that would be Thanksgiving-y.
I enjoy Thanksgiving as a holiday because it’s one that is clinging to its traditional reason, one of giving thanks for all of our many blessings. The one before it — Veterans Day — needs to be celebrated in the same manner as Halloween, in my estimation.
Think about riding around a neighborhood, with patriotic bunting festooned around homes, U.S. flags of every type (like the Gadsden Flag) wafting lazily in whatever breeze happens to exist, side by side with flags of a branch of military service denoting which the resident of the home served in.
Wreaths built with the world and anchor symbol of the Marines, or the various eagles of the Navy, Air Force or Army, or the crossed anchors of the Coast Guard, would hang from front doors, and garland with stars and logos draped over fences, or other similar things would signal to passersby that the person within served the country.
People can wander from house to house singing “Anchors Aweigh” or “The Wild Blue Yonder,” and instead of being given candy, a veteran can get a neighborhood salute and whatever else the community can think of to give.
I grew up in the military, since my pops was in the Air Force, and my uncle and one of my brothers also served, one in the Navy and one in the Army. I didn’t get the call to serve, but they and millions of others did.
Their decision to join up came with an implicit understanding that they will be called to lay down their lives in defense of our country and our freedoms. Many, many more made that ultimate sacrifice.
When politicians, many of which only saw combat on television, say that they are running to save democracy, it makes my blood run cold. A politician can only use law to force its own to comply, and would fold like a top sheet when things became difficult.
Our true protectors face enemies head on, and for that alone, deserve to be honored much more than Spider-Man and Witchy Poo.
Tony Farkas is editor of the San Jacinto News-Times and the Trinity County News-Standard. He can be reached at tony@polkcountypublishing.com.
