I want to say I am totally on board with making Juneteenth a national holiday. June 19 is the day African Americans observe the end of slavery in America in 1865. Beyond that, I’m not going into the particulars, because there is discussion of it all over the Internet today. However, it generally is regarded as a joyous occasion, an impetus for family and community celebration. Juneteenth already is a state holiday in 49 states, but actual events tend to take place almost exclusively among black citizens. I think this is something we all could and should share. Officially. My only quibble is, I wish it were Aprilteenth. I have always felt we need a holiday between George Washington’s Birthday and Memorial Day! However, it can be cold in April, and Juneteenth would make a satisfying trilogy along with Memorial Day and Independence Day.
A Soft Answer
By Jimmy Johnson
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28 responses to “A Soft Answer”
I’ve had the Holidays option selected on my computer’s calendar for years. This is the first year that Juneteenth showed up on it. Which had me looking it up back on June 1 when it showed up. I’m glad it did! It’s something everyone should celebrate.
Wouldn’t that be a group of four, including Labor Day? I can’t think what the term would be for that group, but why not? It’s Independence Day for African Americans.
Labor Day’s a worthy holiday, make no mistake about it. I guess I said “trilogy,” because Memorial Day and Independence Day already are within a month of one another (almost). Throw another smack in the middle, and that’s a lot of holidays in a short time. But then, what’s wrong with that?! 🙂
The only thing wrong that I can think of is that the proliferation of holidays sometimes can cause a sort of apathy as to their real significance. But there’s no cure for that I suppose.
Personally I would be happier with fewer, more meaningful holidays. Perhaps one Independence Day that covers all of us.
Perhaps when we achieve liberty from the system that holds the monopoly on violence we can all celebrate together.
“some scientists are now opining that we might very well be alone.” That’s not really news. Some have been, for decades, all the way from when many thought ours was the only “solar” system to now, when we know there are scads of [mostly unsuitable] stellar systems in our corner of one galaxy, among Billions of galaxies. My theology [partly] is there must be an afterlife so we can find out. Elaine already knows. Peace,
Peace
Thanks for the response here where I can see it. I checked for a reply for a couple of days and then gave up.
“You’re in my spot.”
Arlo must have enjoyed “The Big Bang Theory.”
If you are looking for an April holiday, why not the 19th, the battles of Lexington and Concord
“Where once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard ’round the world.”
When i was a working person in Boston I used to get that day off. Then the Boston marathon was around that day. And after the bombing several years ago when innocent bystanders were killed including a child and police officer during the pursuit. That is as wrong as what’s happening today but nobody mentions that.
Easter is April in many years, as is good Friday
As close as this cam gets; you can ID house sparrows in the basement apt.
https://explore.org/livecams/birds/charlo-montana-osprey-nest
Peace,
Groan.
https://www.gocomics.com/frank-and-ernest/2020/06/20
Peace,
Ha ha ha! Good one. emb, I saw this and thought you might be interested. It looks to be original art and is signed by Thaves. https://www.shopgoodwill.com/Item/95749672
There are lots of things that could be holidays, but aren’t. For instance, celebrating the day that women finally got the right to vote. I think we have enough holidays and don’t need to add others.
Not even the end of Prohibition?
That’s a holiday I could drink to
Let’s have more holidays.
One caveat regarding more Federal holidays: The cost to taxpayers for each Federal holiday is estimated to be a half billion dollars, just for the wages of the US government employees that get the day off. Currently they get ten holidays each year. As they say in D.C., “Five billion here and five billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.”
But with the US budget for FY 2021 proposed to be almost five *trillion* dollars, I suppose that, whether one is fiscally conservative or not, one could make the case that the cost of our Federal holidays is that “rounding error” of which some speak.
Here’s a bedtime tale to think about:
Â
https://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=Nw5KQMXDiM4
Â
It’s from Probably Tomfoolery and is called “The Great Realisation.”
Â
A bed time story of how it started, and why hindsight’s 2020.
Will there be a contest to re-name the “Eskimo Pie®”? If so, I propose “Indigenous Circumpolar Peoples Pie®”.
So, you are saying it would be an i-c-p pie?
Was watching a program – About dinosaurs I think – but they were trying to impress big numbers.
How long would it take to count to Million if you counted 1 # / sec. –A Billion would take almost
141 YEARS so a Trillion is beyond my lifetime.
The difference between a million dollars and a billion:
Â
If I gave someone a million dollars and had them spend a thousand dollars per day, it would last them a bit over 3 years. If I gave someone a billion dollars and had them spend a thousand dollars per day, it would last them a bit over 3,000 years.
More like 2.74 years, doing some rounding in my head – too lazy to get the calculator out!
I often tried to explain the magnitude of Avogadro’s Number in terms of counting seconds since the presumed start of life on earth – and how many such sequences it would take to get to that number of seconds. If you want to blow your mind, try it. Avogadro’s Number is about 6.023×10 to the 23rd power.
I always use this page to help students “experience” the difference between a million dollars, a billion, and a trillion. http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/
This is GOOD, Donn. Thanks.
June 14th is Flag Day. Memorial Day, Flag Day, & July 4th make a nice trilogy honoring military, flag & country.