George Strait was probably just trying to enjoy his best life. It was Memorial Day, and he thought he would give a short shout-out about the day. In just a few words, Straight made a lot of people angry.
His post was not political. He did not say anything about Donald Trump or speak about the country in general. In a now-deleted post on Instagram, Straight wrote, "God bless our heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice. Happy Memorial Day! 🇺🇸."
On the surface, the post seems mostly fine, and the sentiment is the correct one. Memorial Day is a day, just as it sounds. It began during or just after the Civil War to memorialize those soldiers who had lost their lives in battle. This was not a "happy" occasion, but a sad one in which the dead are honored as heroes.
George Strait tries to do good thing and gets a largely negative reaction
Still, while the United States has made the last Monday of May into a national holiday to honor the fallen of all American wars, people also tend to start the vacation season that weekend. Schools have let us, the unofficial beginning of summer arrives, and people go do, well...happy things.
While Memorial Day is a fantastic day to give thanks to those who sacrificed, it is also, coincidentally, a joyful one for many, taking a break from work and school.
The issue the country music icon ran into on social media was that people took umbrage with his use of "Happy Memorial Day," a phrase that is not uncommon, though a misleading one, and one Straight did not invent.
One of the reactions to his since-deleted post included, "It’s very disappointing to see the word 'happy' in this message. As the widow of a US Marine, I assure you there is nothing happy about this day. Today is a day of remembrance of those who gave all for our country."
The widow is correct, of course. That is what Memorial Day is about. But to be fair to Strait, people reading the post also simply skipped over the first part of it when he wrote, "God bless our heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice."
He understands what the day is about and does not need to be informed about that. He created a social media post to say "Hi, and have a good day," and he did not deserve all the rage thrown back his way. Did he miswrite part of the post? Sure, but the first part is most important.