As far back as the ancient Greeks, many people have set aside one day each year to honor and remember those of their own who fell in battle. Usually somewhat somber and reflective, families would carry food and drink to their relatives’ graves, clean and clear around them, lavish the sites with colorful flowers, flags and laurel, then retire underneath the shade of nearby trees to eat dinner together, sometimes holding an impromptu memorial for their lost loved ones.

Shortly after the American Civil War, both the former Union and Confederate states observed the practice, although the former Confederate states resisted observing the same date as their former enemies. Only after World War I did the entire United States began to observe May 30 as Memorial Day.

The practice of remembering and honoring those who have fallen in our wars remained largely unchanged for generations, until government mucked things up in 1968 by passing the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. The law mandated that, beginning in 1971, the observance of Memorial Day, along with Columbus Day, Veterans Day, and Washington’s Birthday as federal holidays, would be moved to occur only on Mondays, so as to create a three-day weekend.

Backers of the legislation, including the United States Chambers of Commerce, had argued that creation of a three-day weekend would reduce absenteeism — no more calling in sick on Friday after a Thursday Memorial Day, that business wouldn’t experience midweek interruptions, and that travel-related businesses such as hotels and motels, gas stations, tourism, etc., would prosper.

Rep. Robert McClory (R-Ill.), a supporter of the law, suggested that families would likely spend their long weekends visiting Arlington National Cemetery, Gettysburg, and other “famed battlegrounds and monuments.” Others weren’t as enamored of the idea and called it what it was: a rejection of tradition and heritage in favor of making more money.

Rep. Edward Hutchinson (R-Mich.) assailed it as “a rejection of our historic past.” Rep. Joe Waggoner (D-La.) shouted, “Holidays and commemorative events were not created for the purpose of trade or commerce.” Rep. Dan Kuykendall (R-Tenn.) accurately forecast: “If we do this, ten years from now our schoolchildren will not know what February 22 means. They will not know or care when George Washington was born. They will know that in the middle of February they will have a three-day weekend for some reason.”

Rep. Basil Whitener (D-N.C.) complained that “a few business organizations would make more profit on Mondays” at the expense of “the tradition and background of our Nation. . . . Let us not peg everything to the dollar.” Representative Harold Gross (R-Iowa) said of the proposal, “I have an idea if we make Monday holidays, to fulfill the promise to merchants that they are going to do a better business, that employees of the stores of this country will have no holidays. They will work at selling merchandise. That is about what will happen.”

The Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968 passed the House, 212-83, and the Senate by voice vote, without debate.

Technically, the United States does not celebrate national holidays, but Congress has designated ten “legal public holidays,” during which most federal institutions are closed. While individual states and private businesses are not required to observe these, many businesses do, and as Gross predicted, most retailers remain open.

Best estimates count the total of fallen military in each war and conflict the United States has been involved in since it declared its independence is upwards of 2.5 million. Today, we show our appreciation by beginning our school children’s summer vacations, sleeping late on Monday morning and spending the week traveling to the nearest water park when we should be honoring their sacrifices.

I enjoy long weekends as much as the next man, but government’s meddling with the dates of holidays, even going so far as to move the observance of a president’s birthday, undermines and devalues the holiday’s original meaning and importance. By focusing on commerce and leisure on Memorial Day, we lose a little bit more of our heritage and historical perspective.

If you’re able, I recommend that you observe this holiday by visiting a nearby military cemetery or memorial. Also, at 3:00 p.m. local time, pause for one minute in rememberance of our fallen war dead.