It is now the 9th day of January 2022. A beautiful sunshine filled day in the low 80s awaits. The chaos continues but I’m ignoring it. If I don’t think about it, it doesn’t bother me. If I don’t care, it isn’t a problem. Some of you may think that I’m being selfish. That I should share you concern, like I used to. I’ve found that I’m a happier person when I don’t worry about what I can’t change. What I will think about is Balloon Ascension Day, National Apricot Day, Play God Day, National Word Nerd Day, National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, and No Pants Subway Ride Day which makes me wish we had a Subway near here. Moving onto history: On this day in 1349 the Jews of Basel Switzerland were blamed for the Black Plague and 700 were burned alive in their homes. In 1793 the 1st hot-air balloon flight in the US lifts off in Philadelphia, piloted by Jean Pierre Blanchard which is why this date is Balloon Ascension Day. On this day in 1861 the Battle of Fort Sumter began making the beginning of the Civil War. This is the day in 1912 that the US sent Marines to Honduras to establish a government “friendly” to the United States. This was only one of the conflicts in what became known as the Banana Wars. The first quotes is from Katherine Mansfield who passed on this day in 1923 at the young age of 34. Katherine said, “Could we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different” and “Life never became a habit to me. It’s always a marvel.” I’ll end with a quote from the Jewish philosopher Zygmunt Bauman who died in 2017 at the age of 91. He said, “I have always believed that you do not measure the health of a society by GNP but by the condition of its worst off.” Enough for this day. Abide.
