This day is named December 16, 2021. If find it easier to fine tune my attitude as I get closer to Christmas. Reminding myself of everything I am grateful for is one of the main reasons I get up every morning and write this post. Henry David Thoreau said, “I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.” Me too Mr. Thoreau. Today is National Chocolate Covered Anything Day, Stupid Toy Day, and Boston Tea Party Day. We should spend a little time on the Boston Tea Party. Most of you think the people of Boston dressed up like Indians and threw the British tea in the harbor to protest taxation without representation. You’ve got it backwards. The East Indian Tea Company persuaded the English government to remove all taxes from their tea being sent to America. They could undercut the price of tea from other sources and monopolize the American market. The Tea Party was about New England merchants stopping a royal monopoly. Now you know. Now to history. In 1907, as a gesture of the US’s new presence as a world power, President Theodore Roosevelt sent the ‘Great White Fleet’ on a round-the-world cruise to demonstrate American power. On this day in 1953, President Eisenhower held the first White House Press Conference with 161 reporters. In 1969 the British House of Commons voted 343-185 to abolish the death penalty. As a side note, the death penalty has been abolished in 108 countries. Today is Margaret Mead’s birthday. She authored one of my favorite quotes: “Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.” I also like her observation of human nature: “What people say, what people do, and what they say they do are entirely different things.” This is the day in 1965 that the English storyteller W. Somerset Maugham died at the age of 91. He said, “The most valuable thing I have learned from life is to regret nothing” and “An unfortunate thing about this world is that the good habits are much easier to give up than the bad ones.” That’s enough for this post. Have a good day. Abide.
