We are now in the time/space of June 19, 2021. It’s called Juneteenth. The day we celebrate the end of slavery in the United States. Now recognized as a national holiday. Actually, slavery hasn’t ended. It’s still alive and well but in the shadows. Florida ranks third in America after California and New York. Moving on. Today is Dad’s Dog Day, Garfield the Cat Day, National Day of Prayer for Law Enforcement Officers, National Oreo Cookie Day, World Juggling Day, World Sauntering Day, National Watch Day and National Martini Day. I’ll go with a Martini, James Bond style, shaken not stirred. Now to history. Lincoln freed the slaves with the Emancipation Declaration on this day in 1862. It took Texas three more years but eventually they got to it on this day in 1865. On this day in 1912 the U.S. government established the 8-hour work day. This is the day in 1939 that Atlanta, GA, enacted legislation that disallowed pinball machines in the city. I’ll bet you that corrupting the youth was the reason. On this day in 1961 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a provision in Maryland’s constitution that required state officeholders to profess a belief in God. This is Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, physicist and philosopher’s birthday (1623). He said, “Don’t try to add more years to your life. Better add more life to your years.” Blaise, I’m doing my best to do both. This is also the day that William Golding died in 1993. He was an English author and poet who wrote “Lord of the Flies”. I use a quote from that book to end this post: “This is our island. It’s a good island. Until the grownups come to fetch us we’ll have fun.” That sums up how I feel most of the time. Now, I’m going to try to have some fun today. Abide.
