Here we are. It’s 09.20.2020. We passed this day marker precisely at the stroke of midnight. As long as you don’t live on the Texas Gulf Coast, this day should be a fine one to be alive. It’s also good to be alive there but you might have to fill a few sandbags. Getting used to the chaos yet? We should be. What new mischief will fate hand us today? Whatever it is, I’ll use Jimmy Buffet’s lyrics:
Is it ignorance or apathy, I forgot these lessons taught to me.
Some say life isn’t fair, Hey, I don’t know, I don’t care.
Today we have a great list: It’s National Fried Rice Day, National Gibberish Day, National Wife Appreciation Day, National Pepperoni Pizza Day, National Punch Day and National String Cheese Day. I’ll add some rum to the punch and have a pizza I think. Now to those odd historical footnotes: On this day in 1664 Maryland passes 1st anti-amalgamation law to stop intermarriage of English women & black men. On this day in 1737 the “Walking Purchase” forces the cession of 1.2 million acres of Lenape-Delaware tribal land to the Pennsylvania Colony. William Penn “found” a lost treaty from 1686 that gave tribal land to the Colony. The measurement of how much land was how far a man could walk in 1 1/2 days. They got the 3 fastest people in the colony and redrew the map. It was a land swindle. On this day in 1859 George Simpson patents electric range. Finally, on this day in 1946, Winston Churchill argues for a United States of Europe. His aim was to eliminate the European ills of nationalism and war-mongering once and for all. Today is the day in 1878 that the writer Upton Sinclair was born. He said, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” This is the day in 2010 that Leonard Skinner, American high school gym teacher; namesake of rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd stopped living. I don’t have a quote from him, but I do have the beginning of the lyrics of Freebird, “If I leave here tomorrow, Would you still remember me?” Hope so. Abide.
