For some, Memorial Day is the start of summer.  For many others, this is a national holiday to go shopping or rest or whatever.  For the nation, this a celebratory day established to honor those who gave their life to preserve freedom and liberty.   Call it a celebration of life.  This is also your special day for patriotism.   Specifically for me, observation began last night watching the  2025 National Memorial Day Concert  on the Mall, as I've been doing now for 36 years, except for 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic.  This show is also beamed to more than 175 countries and aboard more than 200 U.S. Navy ships at sea.  Up to half a million people watch in person. I especially revere this occasion because of another Mall event, A Capitol Fourth, the concert of the National Symphony Orchestra that began on July in 1979.  Went to the first one, and three more.  The 1980 concert was the first to be telecasted nationwide,...

The oldest person in the world today is Kane Tanaka at the age of 118 years.  That's her when 20 in 1923. The USA is more than twice as old, for today we celebrate our 245th birthday.  Mind you, this is not particularly elderly, for the  top six  are: #1  Egypt  8000 years old #2  India  5300 #3  Afghanistan  5000 #4  China 4091 #5  Georgia  3700 #6  Ethiopia  3000  ( their  monarchy  lasted more than 700 hundred years until 1974 when Haile Selassie was overthrown in 1974) the British monarchy is going strong at 1200 years so is the one in  Japan for 2700 years The USA is also not the first democracy.  Five thousand years ago  Mesopotamia  invented written language and had a primitive form of democracy.  Some say that around 3000 years ago  India  actually formed republics which practiced democracy.  Greece had that Athens versus Sparta rivalry 2600 years ago...