When is it okay to "celebrate" history?

Seems a funny question, doesn't it?

Just a few days ago, we all (in one way or another) remembered Pearl Harbor's attack on 12-7-41. 9-11 is a date that will never be forgotten, either. We've made posts concerning Armistice Day (now Memorial Day) and the significance of "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month".

None of these, however, can be considered "celebrations" though... right? There are no parades, or parties, or days off from work and school held on the anniversary of V-J Day... or June 6th... because these aren't celebratory events.

There are those who are planning a state-wide event in SC this month to memorialize the secession of South Carolina from the Union in 1860. Period costumes, mint juleps, bands playing "Dixie", parades of men in military regalia from the Civil War... is this okay?

We "celebrate" things like the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Mother's and Father's Day, Thanksgiving... these are events and ideas worth celebrating. Days like Memorial Day have celebratory aspects... but it is to celebrate the sacrifice that the men (and women) that have placed themselves between us and "war's desolation" and NOT the wars themselves. Who would hold a parade on 9-11? We take the time to remember the event, and renew our vigilance against a repeat attack, but we don't celebrate the day. Why would the people (even a few of them) of South Carolina celebrate 12-20-1860? It was an event that brought about the eventual (and inevitable, I think) destruction of every major city in the State, killed fully 25% of all the white males from SC who served in the CSA, brought about the decades of Reconstruction that the State STILL hasn't completely recovered from, and devastated the lives of hundreds of thousands of people over the course of the next century (literally).

I'm not opposed to people remembering the sacrifice that these soldiers and sailors made in defense of their homes and State... but to celebrate the event that brought about the destruction and threat to the same is just about as asinine as I can imagine.

Am I wrong?