SEASONS - PRESIDENT'S DAY - HOW DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS AMERICAN HOLIDAY?

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Just a few days after we have stuffed ourselves with chocolate and wined and dined and flowered our lovers; we come to President’s Day.  

What is this day all about, and how did we begin to celebrate it?

It all started back in the 1880’s when people began to celebrate the birthday of our first President, George Washington.  His birthday is actually on February 22^nd,  and that was the official date of celebration. 
   

In 1996 congress decided that federal workers should move many of their yearly holidays to Mondays no matter how the date fell on the calendar.   

They implemented this with the Uniform Monday Holiday Bill.  This would give federal workers more long weekends with several days in a row off from work.  Most companies who allowed such holidays for their workers also followed suit and used the same calendar days.  

Hence, George Washington’s Birthday Holiday was moved to the third Monday in February, no matter the date on the calendar. 

It was noted during the debate over this bill that many states were

unofficially celebrating the birth date of Abraham Lincoln on February 12^th.    Before the new bill passed there was extensive discussion about combining both dates in honor of both great men, and calling it President’s Day.  

This brought up the question asked by many; would we still be honoring just George Washington and Abraham Lincoln on this day, or would we be honoring all of our American Presidents? 

Nothing was ever resolved about this, and the official holiday stayed the same:  George Washington’s Birthday.  It was simply moved to another date and combined with the weekend. 

Some retail merchants wanting to profit from the events being held in and around Washington on this date began to call it President’s Day anyway.  They did commercials and promotions showing both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and even other presidents.  It seems now that the people of the country have unofficially changed the whole holiday to honor all presidents that have served, but the official standing still has it that we are celebrating George Washington’s birthday. 

This is yet another great proof that when the people desire something enough, they usually get their way whether it is officially declared the law of the land or not.   It seems the people desire to be profitable and have sales!

Ask any American walking down the street what day it is and they will say President’s Day.  Ask them what they are celebrating and they will tell you this holiday is in honor of all the great men who have held the office of President of The United States!  They might also give you a look that indicates you might not be from the same planet before they hurry on to the next sales promotion.

 Go figure! 

Should we even care?

 

How will you celebrate this day?

As for myself, I’m stuck in the category of those workers with an employer that does not even recognize this day as an official holiday.  It will be like any other working day for me, perhaps with a newscast or two that is accidentally overheard about the speeches that will be given in Washington, or maybe a child or grandchild coming home from school and asking that obvious question:  “Why do we celebrate President’s Day?”

Should we lie to them or tell the truth?  

Exactly what is the truth anyway?  

It obviously has not been taught in public schools much lately.  Has an untruth become the reality; thus the truth?  Perhaps this is a subject we should let our children ponder.   Just give them the cold hard facts and let them decide what to do with them.  Perhaps the schools just have too much fear of  the voice of the majority?  So is the truth now what the people are doing and thinking today, or is the truth what the law actually says? 

You tell me!  Poor teachers!

This is such a pleasant little problem compared to deciding how to properly teach sex education, religion and political views........Let's just count our blessings for little distractions and the new opportunity for a lesson on thinking for yourself.   Until the children of America decide the proper course and take it for themselves, let's just allow them to ponder this one for a while longer before we move on to the next hurdle of no clarity and unreality that our children must learn to face growing up in our society.  

Perhaps they will even actually learn to think for themselves!  

Is that still allowed?