This day’s 1.6 million miles of space is designated as February 21, 2022. I’ve decided it’s going to be a good day for me. It took me over 70 years to figure out that I can choose what I will think about. I don’t know why it took me so long to realize that I can make a conscious decision to filter my own thoughts. Example, if someone says something stupid or hurtful, I can decide to think about something else. Cute puppies, ice cream cones, lovely ladies, whatever puts a smile on my face. I am now the master of my own attitude. Feb. 21st is National Grain Free Day, Presidents Day, National Reading Card Day, Single Task Day and National Sticky Bun Day. Who doesn’t love a sticky bun? Onto the history of this date. On this day in 1431 Joan of Arc’s interrogation began in her t rial for heresy. On this day in 1828 the first American Indian newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, was published. In 1842 the 1st known sewing machine was patented by John Greenough. In 1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published “The Communist Manifesto” in London. In 1885 on this date, the Washington Monument was dedicated. The last Carolina parakeet died in captivity on this day in 1918 at the Cincinnati Zoo. On this day in the Villages 74-year-old Robert Wilbanks jumped into a pond to save his puppy from an alligator. Today we will stop at the headstone of Baruch Spinoza who stopped living in 1677 and was a Dutch Philosopher. He said, “What Paul says about Peter tells us more about Paul than about Peter.” “Desire nothing for yourself, which you do not desire for others.” “Everyone endeavors as much as possible to make others love what he loves, and to hate what he hates.” I’ll wrap up this post with this quote which is the best example I found of Spinoza’s approach to philosophy: “I have tried sedulously not to laugh at the acts of man, nor to lament them, nor to detest them, but to understand them.” Now, I’m off to explore this brand new, never lived, fresh day. Abide.
