We are now in the time/space known as March 21, 2022. This is my 28,052nd day of life. You can find out how many days you’ve lived simply by searching on “how many days since (date of your birth). Since I plan to live until I’ve reached 100, I still have 8,472 days to go. I intend to enjoy everyone of them. Here’s the list for today: Act Happy Day, International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Forest Day, Memory Day, California Strawberry Day, National Common Courtesy Day, National Flower Day, French Bread Day, and World Poetry Day. There’s more but that’s enough. Now to historical footnotes. In 1349 on this day, up to 3,000 Jews were murdered in Erfurt, Germany. The mob held them responsible for the Black Death. On this day in 1824 a fire at the Cairo ammunition dump killed 4,000 horses. This is the day in 1844 that William Miller, a famous Baptist preacher predicted the return of Christ and the end of the world. I’ll bet that was embarrassing. In 1925 Tennessee passed the “Butler Act,” making Tennessee the 1st state to outlaw teaching the theory of evolution (repealed 1967). Finally, in 1995 on this day, the State of New Jersey officially dedicated the Howard Stern Rest Area along Route 295. He must be so proud. Today we visit the grave of Chinua Achebe who was a Nigerian author and poet. He said, “There is a great proverb that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” “If you don’t like someone’s story, write your own.” “If you have leaders who are prepared to incite group against group it is very easy to manufacture reasons and excuses.” I’ll end with “when an old man dies, a library burns to the ground.” Abide.
