During the night we entered the time/space of June 17 2020. I like the river metaphor for life. Time flows like a river and we can tube it, swim with the current or swim against it. We seem to be in one of those spots in the river where there’s rocks and some white water to contend with. There is always something to celebrate in each day. Today is Global Garbage Man Day, National Apple Strudel Day (this is my pick), National Eat Your Vegetables Day and World Crocodile Day. Now lets find out why June 17 was important. On this day in 1631 Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, then spends more than 20 years building her tomb, the Taj Mahal. This is the day in 1863 that the 1st accident insurance company, Travelers Insurance Co of Hartford chartered is established. On this day in 1939 was the last public guillotining in France. Eugen Weidmann, a convicted murderer, is guillotined in Versailles outside the prison Saint-Pierre. The guillotine is associated with revolutionary France, but it may have claimed just as many lives in Germany during the Third Reich. Adolf Hitler made the guillotine a state method of execution in the 1930s, and ordered that 20 of the machines be placed in cities across Germany. I didn’t know that. On this day in 1871 James Weldon Johnson, American civil rights activist, leader of the NAACP and Harlem Renaissance poet began his life. He said, “Young man, young man, your arm’s too short to box with God.” This is also the day in 2012 Rodney King, African American motorist beaten by LA cop, dies in an accidental drowning at 47. Rodney said, “I sometimes feel like I’m caught in a vise. Some people feel like I’m some kind of hero. Others hate me.” I do imagine it was tough being Rodney. Now I’m done with this post. Time to try and make today a good one. Abide.
