It is October 30, 2021. Soon it will be Thanksgiving and then Christmas and finally New Years Eve. And then we start all over again. It’s tradition time. We all have certain routines associated with the holidays. We will cook and eat special foods, listen to Christmas music, watch movies like Christmas Story and my favorite, Elf again. I’m looking forward to it. That’s still in the future and today is Buy A Doughnut Day, Haunted Refrigerator Night, Mischief Night, Create a Great Funeral Day, Checklist Day, Pumpkin Bread Day, Sugar Addiction Awareness Day and Candy Corn Day. Onto the history of today: On this day in 1768, Wesley Chapel in New York City was founded. It was the first Methodist church in America. 1868, John Menard of Louisiana was the 1st African American elected to US Congress. In 1873 P. T. Barnum’s circus, “Greatest Show on Earth”, debuts in New York City. Barnum said: “To me there is no picture so beautiful as smiling, bright-eyed, happy children; no music so sweet as their clear and ringing laughter.” In 1888 on this day John J Loud patented the ballpoint pen. On this day in 1919 the Baseball league president called for the abolishment of the spitball. In 1945 on this day the US Government announced the end of shoe rationing. This is the day in 2009 that the French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss died. He said, “A wise man doesn’t give the right answers, he askes the right questions.” Claude wasn’t the only anthropologist to die on this date. In 2006 Clifford Geertz died too. Clifford said, “One of the most significant facts about humanity may finally be that we all begin with the natural equipment to live a thousand kinds of life but end in the end having lived only one.” Excellent observation. Out of all of the paths I could have taken, I walked this one. Abide.
