People will celebrate anything.
Don’t believe me? Well, now, let’s just take a quick
look at this month’s special days.
Somebody decided to go without socks and call it No
Socks Day. Since the next day is Lost Sock Memorial Day, how much you want to
bet that’s why the person decided to forego the socks?
Kentucky Derby day – I’ll tip my hat to the horse
who won the Run for the Roses.
It’s no wonder there’s a No Diet Day when there are
days for candied orange peels, roast leg of lamb, coconut cream pie,
butterscotch brownies, shrimp, nutty fudge and several other food items.
National Sorry Day – Sorry. I won’t be attending the
celebrations for that one.
National Wine Day – Now there’s one I could drink
to.
There are also some pretty great folks who get
special days in May: International firefighters, teachers, military spouses,
nurses, and Memorial Day (for all who died in the military, although now
it’s usually for all military). And let’s not forget Mom.
But I wish we could
forget Endangered Species day and World hunger day as being no longer needed.
Maybe sometime in the future, though.
And that’s just a short list. (Want to see more?
Here’s one site to check out.)
With all these special days to commemorate things,
people or events, have we trivialized the idea of celebrating?
Memorial Day is just one example. I remember as a
kid the flags that people would make a special effort to go put out by the
graves of family members who had died while serving in the military – an honor
to their sacrifice. Some still honor all military, living and dead, past and
present. But for most it seems to have slipped into just another Monday to have
a BBQ and the start of summer.
On the other hand, maybe all these special days just
point to a simple truth – we need to appreciate more. It’s essential to have
fun, share joy with others and help counter the bad things in life.
What would our lives be like without the people who
do thankless jobs or those we depend on to keep us safe? Appreciate them while
they’re with you.
What does it do to the ecology, and even the
economy, when another species is no longer with us? Prevent it!
We need to celebrate the small accomplishments,
because without them we’d never reach the big goals.
Yes, we even need to appreciate the little things in
life, like the taste of nutty fudge or a good wine, because we need to be in
the moment to truly be alive. Revel in today!
And most importantly, we need to create memories and
connect with others. Personally, the best way to do that is to celebrate
National Laughter Day, but not limit it to one day of the year.
Your turn: I’d love to hear your take on this. Do we
celebrate too much or not enough?
