It’s become the 4th day of December 2020. So far, so good. It’s that time of year when everywhere you look, it’s Christmas. And the message is buy, buy and buy some more. We live in a society driven by marketing. I can teach you the elements of marketing in a two sentences: 1) You are unhappy. 2) Buy (fill in the blank) and you will be happy. That’s it. Now you know. We have a big list of events to choose from today. It’s National Cookie Day, National Dice Day, National Sock Day, Wear Brown Shoes Day, Santa’s List Day, Cabernet Franc Day and Bartender Appreciation Day. I’ll go with the cookies. Now to the history of this date. In 1619 on this date 38 colonists from Berkeley Parish, England disembark in Virginia and give thanks to God. Considered by many the first Thanksgiving in the Americas. in 1674 on this day Father Marquette builds first dwelling in what is now Chicago. This is the day in 1783 General Washington bids officers farewell at Fraunce’s Tavern, NYC. The tavern is still in business. This is the day in 1829 that the Britain outlawed “suttee” in India (widow burning herself to death on her husband’s funeral pyre). And, in 1954 the first Burger King is opened in Miami, Florida. This is the day that Thomas Carlyle, a Scottish historian, was born in 1795. He said, “Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of man you are”. This is the date that the philosopher Thomas Hobbs dies in 1679 at the age of 91. He said, “It’s not the pace of life I mind. It’s the sudden stop at the end.” I like both quotes and I think I’ll borrow the one from Carlyle. That’s it for today. The end. Abide.
