It’s February 17, 2021. Another chance to be a better person than you were yesterday. We all have areas that we can improve upon. Today is a good day to try. After all, it’s Who Should I Be Day, National Café au Lait Day (coffee with milk), National Cabbage Day, National Indian Pudding Day, Random Acts of Kindness Day and Champion Crab Races Day. Random acts of kindness is what I’ll celebrate today. Now to the historical footnotes. In 1600 Philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned alive after being charged with heresy by the Roman Inquisition. Speaking truth to power has always been a dangerous occupation. Bruno said, “Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.” On this day in 1801 Congress voted to elect Thomas Jefferson over Aron Burr because of a tie in the Electoral College. In 1883 A Ashwell patented a free-toilet in London. What is a free-toilet? I looked it up. It’s the gizmo that shows if the toilet is occupied or not. In 1913 the 1st minimum wage law in the US took effect in Oregon. In 1933 the first issue of American news magazine “Newsweek” was published. In 1969 Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash recorded an album that was never released. I’ve seen recordings of them playing together and they are awesome. Today is Jim Brown’s birthday. Jim said, “God ain’t got nothing to do with winning a damn football game.” This is also the day that the Apache chief Geronimo died at the age of 79. He said, “I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive.” Interesting person to read about. So there you have it. Use this day to make yourself someone better than you were yesterday. It’s all up to you. Abide.
