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Monday, February 17, 2014

Let's Kick the 'R' Out of Feb'r'uary

For the shortest month of the year, February seems to have the most controversy surrounding it.

First of all, February starts with the Super Bowl, our Nation's unofficial secular holiday, complete with traditions of food, football, and a cavalcade of cute animal commercials. You either love the game or go shopping.

To support my contention that February is one strange mother of a month, I need only say two words: Groundhog Day. This is the day that we come together to receive the weather benediction from the likes of Punxsutawney Phil, who we know is more accurate at predicting the weather than any local newscast meteorologist.

And every four years we are presented with the spectacle of the winter Olympics, that two week amalgamation of sports, politics, and something called curling, that I'll leave to better minds than mine to figure out.

Then there's Valentine's Day, that some consider a purely contrived holiday by an Eastern consortium of card makers, candy makers, and florists. If you have a sweetheart, it can be a day of fun and romance. If you do not have that someone special, the day can be a painful reminder of what you may be missing.

Now we come to that enigma of a holiday called Presidents Day, which falls on the third Monday of February. Which just so happens to be today. But what happened to Honest Abe's birthday? What about the Father of our Country? Does Presidents Day conveniently roll the two into one? There's no precedent to support this. Is the day supposed to include Millard Fillmore, our 13th president?

Then you throw in Black History Month, and that bizarre phenomenon called leap year, and you have all the makings of one clusterf@*k of a month!

For the skinny on Presidents Day go to:
http://www.snopes.com/holidays/presidents/presidentsday.asp




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