wake up
Here’s a thought: Holidays are not for sleeping in. Snooze on the weekends or, my plan, when you’re in the grave. Holidays are more meaningful when honoring the reasons they were made holidays in the first place.
This is a recurring theme with me - kind of like liberal politics and invitations to drink tequila. Every holiday is an opportunity to do something:
4th of July: Read the Declaration of Independence with someone you love.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: Participate in an urban renewal project.
Memorial Day: Pay your respects at a military cemetary.
Tomorrow is Veteran’s Day and before you waste away the morning, consider these ideas:
- Many assisted-living facilities are stocked full of elderly veterans who would love some company. Bring books or magazines to read to them or just sit and talk. It would probably make their day.
-Veterans’ Memorial Park on Hwy. 301 has a program honoring current and former soldiers with a live band from 11am-3pm with hot dogs, coke, and water. It’s supposed to be a beautiful day and a decent turnout would make it even nicer.
- Tuskegee Airmen will be at James A. Haley Veterans Hospital at 1pm. Bring the kids and introduce them to history.
- Many veterans must work. Why not take one or two to lunch?
If you can’t summon the energy to properly honor people for which this holiday is set aside - at least call a few and thank them for their service. Then roll back over and go to sleep.
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November 10th, 2005 at 7:54 pm
You are so right! Gosh, it makes me happy when people think that way!
I spent MLK weekend in ATL, just by coincidence. When we realized, we drove around the block he was born on - the house is gone - and chit-chatted with locals doing a tree-planting project. It was quite heart-warming.
For Halloween, we watched a documentary about Catholicism and exorcism (everybody forgets about Halloween really being the precursor to All Saints, don’t they?), and then toured the local cemetary, rumored to be next to Indian burial grounds.
This post makes me very, very smiley! What a great attitude you have!
November 10th, 2005 at 9:52 pm
It’s so nice to get a pleasant response instead of the usual eye-rolling. People really do value their sleepy time and don’t want me sending guilt vibes their way.
November 11th, 2005 at 12:16 pm
from Bob Silverberg
Veterans for Peace, Cape Cod Chapter
Numbers
Two thousand - and more -
How many parents - Do we multiply by two ?
-And grandparents - times four ?
Add brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles -
And the children - times how many ?
I counted the flags -
Flags we’d display on Veterans Day.
One flag for each fatality.
Did we have enough ?
One hundred -
Five hundred -
Fifteen hundred -
Each one a death -
Each one a family tragedy.
Times 2, times 4, …times how many ?
We had only 1700 flags.
Enough last Memorial Day.
Enough no longer…
I phoned to order more.
“How many more do you need?”
“I don’t know exactly,” I answered.
“Well,” the clerk said, “You should order enough.”
How many is enough?
When will it be enough?
Numbers