As you prepare to make the most out of the Monday forecast that promises to provide optimal get together/barbecue weather this holiday weekend, at DASHA®, we are making time to say thank you to veterans and members of the armed forces for keeping our country safe. We are grateful for your service and sacrifice.
The United States sees more and more men and women coming home from wars abroad, facing the challenges of navigating their assimilation back into work and family in their civilian lives. As covered by many national news outlets and reported by Leo Shane III of Stars and Stripes earlier this year, it is estimated that approximately 22 veterans a day take their own life. It is important to, as author Paula J. Caplan says in her award-winning book, When Johnny and Jane Come Marching Home: How All of Us Can Help Veterans, welcome these men and women into our communities and ask them to share their stories with us, rather than push them off to drugs or therapists alone. In a world where we are often too eager to identify a problem, label it with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and shove it in a drawer to forget about it, we can do more to help veterans engage in a dialogue, by doing something as simple as a holding a conversation with these men and women, so they can share the realities of war and not feel ashamed or burdened by them, and begin the healing process. Caplan’s book recommends detailed strategies on how to conduct these conversations.
The origins of Memorial Day can be traced as far back as May 1, 1865, when a group of former slaves in Charleston, SC gave a proper burial to 257 Union soldiers who had been put into a mass grave after dying from exposure to harsh conditions and disease. Originally called “Decoration Day,” 3,000 black school children led a parade of 10,000 people singing “John Brown’s Body.” 28 black men then re-buried the men properly, as a thank you for helping to fight for their freedom. There are other locations, many of them in the south, where, around the same time (1865-1866), people held ceremonies and decorated the graves of fallen soldiers in the Civil War. After World War I, the day was expanded to include all soldiers who died in American wars, resulting in the holiday as we know it today.
Be safe and enjoy your family, friends and loved ones this holiday, and remember that our men and women in uniform are a large part of what enable us to celebrate the long weekend. At 3:00pm local time on Memorial Day, you can engage in the National Moment of Remembrance by observing a minute of silence to honor those who have died in service to our country.
DASHA® wellness & spa is a luxury lifestyle brand and New York City-based wellness center created to offer a truly holistic approach to wellness. To learn more, visit dashawellness.com.
