May 29-31 - Memorial Day weekend

after being here for a few years now, i no longer find it outrageous that Memorial Day in the USA is not a day of sad stories about soldiers who died, sad music on the radio and memorial services.
(what do people do on memorial days then? shopping, of course. well
every holiday is an excuse for shopping and special sales, including birthdays of former presidents etc, but this one always seemed out of place to me.)

i guess memorial day is so different in America because there's never really an immediate threat to the country's existence; it's not in constant state of war. american soldiers fight elsewhere. and not everybody takes part in protecting the country.
in Israel, unfortunately, everybody used to know someone who died while serving the country. Be that an uncle, a classmate, or someone you did your basic military training with. so memorial becomes a lot more personal.
nevertheless, over the years i've come to the understanding that there are different ways to remember, and i respect that. america has its own way.