Dear clients and friends:
I hope this letter finds you and your family healthy and safe! This coming-up Monday is Memorial Day, which commemorates those amazing men and women who gave up their lives – the ultimate sacrifice – in defense of our country. Many of us will spend the day enjoying cookouts and pool parties, and that is exactly as it should be, and I’m sure the fallen would want us to enjoy this day, but we must also spend some time on this day remembering the ones who did not get to enjoy the rest of their lives.
Memorial Day actually began in 1868, a few years after the Civil War, and it should not be confused with Veterans Day, which celebrates the service of U.S. military veterans. Memorial Day venerates the dead, and is a sad, solemn holiday. If you fly an American flag at home, please know that there’s a special way you can display the flag on Memorial Day: raise the flag to full-staff in the morning, then immediately lower it to half-staff and leave it there until mid-afternoon. Then return the flag to full staff.
Importantly, at 3:00 pm, we can all observe a moment of silence, reflection, and remembrance.
Memorial Day is also a teaching moment for our young children. It’s our responsibility to let the young know the incredible sacrifice that our heroes made. It reminds me of the motto of our country, engraved on the Great Seal of the United States: “E Pluribus Unum” which is Latin for, “Out of Many, One”. I see that motto and I think to myself, due to the sacrifice of so many soldiers, we thrive, and so do our families. Let’s please take the time to honor our fallen heroes on Monday!
And last, but certainly not least, all our hearts are heavy, and ache, with the knowledge of the unspeakable suffering happening right now at Uvalde, Texas, where 19 elementary school children and two teachers were senselessly massacred just two days before the last day of classes. There are no words to describe this senseless act, and I know you are all hugging your children extra tight today, as are all of us at Weinstein Construction, who continue to place our faith in God.
