No Vicarious Pain

Most people don't really connect with the whole "spirit of the holiday" that is Memorial Day. For a lot, it really is just a day off. The people that did care were the ones that were directly affected by the loss of a friend or family member. They were the ones most passionate about "celebrating" this holliday. Humans need to be close to something in order to feel it. Just telling everyone in the country that they should honor and respect the people that have "made the ultimate sacrifice" doesn't really mean much. Well obviously they're going to respect them; it's not like they're going to go out and piss on the graves of veterans. It's just that how do you respect someone that hasn't directly entered your life. And, unlike other holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas, Memorial Day doesn't have a real event you're supposed to do. And barbeques don't count, you do them because it's finally nice out, not because the government told you to. The turkey and the tree are symbolic of their respective holidays, because they represent something, and when you do them you can say that you are truly "celebrating the holiday" in the way you are supposed to be. And if you think that the turkey and tree are shitty representations of their holiday, and act as nothing but a checkmark to your list of holidays to do properly, then I guess the state-sanctioned Memorial Day activity could be a chance to do something meaningful with real representation. Thing is,what is a real and meaningful representation of sacrifice and death?