February 25, 2022 is here. I’ve popped my popcorn and settled in to watch the death and destruction in the Ukraine live on Twitter. Who can turn away from a train wreck? However, since I can do nothing about what’s happening, I’m not going to worry about what the next few days/weeks will bring. Armageddon? Closer to it now than we’ve ever been. Oh well. The following are events that can be celebrated today. It’s Let’s All Eat Right Day, Pistol Patent Day, National Clam Chowder Day, Chocolate Covered Peanuts Day, National Skip the Straw Day and Quiet Day. I’ll go with chocolate covered anything. Now to history. On this day in 1643, Dutch colonists killed 120 Algonquin Native Americans at Communipaw, New Jersey. In 1751 the 1st performing monkey was exhibited in New York City. Admission was 1 cent. In 1836 P. T. Barnum exhibited an African American slave named Joice Heth, claiming she was the 161–year-old nursemaid to George Washington. This is the day in 1913 the 16th Amendment to the US Constitution becomes law, providing the legal basis for the graduated income tax. On this day we will visit the grave of the author Tennessee Williams who died in 1983 at the age of 71. Here are a few of his quotes that I like: “Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is make by the friends we choose.” “If you can’t be yourself, what’s the point of being someone else?” I particularly like “You can be young without money, but you can’t be old without it.” True enough. Despite the chaos, have a good day. Abide.
