In his series on making Memorial Day more meaningful, Steve McCallion presents solutions from quieting our social networks in observance to asking companies to celebrate country over commerce.

So far we've explored how Memorial Day lost its meaning, but how can we get it back? How can we remember Memorial Day in a way that is authentic and relevant today? In this era of instant gratification, can we come together as a nation to recognize the sacrifices that have been made for our freedoms?

While we don't have all the answers, and we understand the issues are complex, we do have an opportunity to initiate a conversation about what can be done. To do this we’ve outlined a few ideas below. The goal is not to propose the answer, but to stimulate thinking about how Memorial Day could be more meaningful, and re-connect people to Brand America.

Meaningful ideas will be based on principles identified in my previous post: they have to be a bit inconvenient (sacrifice), something we can all do together (unity), and something that meets people where they are today (relevant)--no parades, in other words.

We recognize that a lot of people are doing very thoughtful things for Memorial Day and that some of these efforts just need to be aggregated and amplified. Some of our suggestions are intentionally very small, but through collective involvement could become very meaningful. We hope this is the beginning of a fruitful conversation and look forward to hearing your ideas.