I should start by saying that this is not my idea, but I think it’s a good one. Someone mentioned it to me. It may have even been a friend of mine. If that person wants to identify himself and claim credit, I’m glad to give it, because I honestly have no friggin’ idea where I heard this. The idea has so much merit in my eyes that I’ll share it in the hopes that a massive groundswell will result and we’ll get it done.
The summer is generally defined as the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day. The idea doesn’t change that, it just reverses it.
The premise is that Memorial Day should really be the second Monday in September–the one closest to September 11th. Labor Day would be moved to the last Monday in May. The Indianapolis 500 won’t care.
When you consider the 3,000 civilians that died on September 11, 2001, and add to it the approximately 7,000 American soldiers that have died in Iraq and Afghanistan and the estimated 35,000 wounded from those conflicts and you have something worth noting. Those honored by the existing Memorial Day holiday will still be duly noted and honored.
The presence of Labor Day so near this honored day is really what’s at issue. I don’t care about honoring the place of the Labor movement in American history. I just think that given what’s happened and its long-term aftermath, having Labor honored in May and service men and women honored in September near September 11th each year makes more sense.
So let the summer be defined as the time between Labor Day and Memorial Day, instead of the other way around.
Labor Day on the last Monday in May. Memorial Day on the second Monday in September.
We’ll all be better off for it.
The Local Paper 