It is March 15, 2022. This is the “Ides of March” which means in ancient Rome, all debts should be settled today. I owe no one and no one owes me. Today the list of celebratory events is long. It’s National Everything You Think is Wrong Day, Act Happy Day, Peanut Lovers Day, Dumbstruck Day, True Confessions Day, International Day against Police Brutality Day and National Shoe the World Day. There’s more but that’s enough. I do like peanut anything so that’s my celebratory focus for today. This is the day in 44 BC when Julius Caesar was stabbed to death. He was murdered because he was so powerful and popular that he became a threat to the Roman republic. The fear was that he would declare himself King. There were 50 Roman senators involved in the conspiracy. This is the day in 1812 that the 1st Russian settlement in California was established at Russian River. This is the day in 1867 that Michigan became the 1st state to tax property to support a university. This is the day in 1869 that the Cincinnati Red Stockings became the 1st professional baseball team. On this day in 1939 Hitler Invaded Czechoslovakia. This is also the day in 1966 that the Watt riot began. The first grave we will visit today belongs to J. P. Lovecraft who was a science fiction author who died in 1937 and said, “Almost nobody dances sober, unless they happen to be insane.” Sound right to me. The next the grave belongs to Dr. Benjamin Spock who was a famous pediatrician said, “Trust yourself, you know more than you think you do.” The last gravesite belongs to William Inge who was a clergyman who died in 1954 and said, “The happiest people seem to be those who have no particular cause for being happy except that they are so.” I think that’s an accurate statement. Now I’ll end with: Abide.
