This day is called Monday, March 20, 2023. A mere hundred years ago, we would not expect much to change during the coming week. A thousand years ago, nothing would change. Today, we know that anything can happen and probably will. If mankind survives, I wonder what the world will be like in the next century. Today is Act Happy Day, Alien Abduction Day, Atheist Pride Day, Crawfish Cravers Awareness Day, French Language Day, International Astrology Day, International Day of Happiness, National Ravioli Day, World Frog Day, World Storytelling Day, Proposal Day, World Sparrow Day, National Bock Beer Day, and The First Day of Spring. There are more but that’s plenty to pick from. Now the history of this day: On this day 1760 the Great Fire of Boston destroyed 349 buildings. In 1774 on this day the British parliament passed the 1st Intolerable Act closing the Port of Boston until colonists paid for the damages caused by the Boston Tea Party. On this day in 1854 the Boston Public Library opened. It was the 1st large free library in the US. On this day in 1896 the US Marines invaded Nicaragua to protect US citizens. On this day in 1917 after the sinking of 3 more American merchant ships, President Woodrow Wilson met with his cabinet who agree with him that war is inevitable. On this day in 1930 KFC was founded by Colonel Harland Sanders. In 1933 on this day Dachau, the 1st Nazi concentration camp was completed. This is the day in 1942 that General Douglas MacArthur vowed “I shall return” after escaping the Japanese-occupied Philippines. On this day in 1944, 2,500 women trample guards and floorwalkers to purchase 1,500 alarm clocks announced for sale in a Chicago department store. Today we visit the grave of C. Wright Mills who was a sociologist who died in 1962. He observed that “People with advantages are loath to believe that they just happen to be people with advantages. They come readily to define themselves as inherently worthy of what they possess; they come to believe themselves ‘naturally’ elite; and, in fact to imagine their possessions and their privileges as natural extensions of their own elite selves.” “Nobody talks more of free enterprise and competition and of the best man winning than the man who inherited his father’s store or farm.” “The mass production of distraction is now as much a part of the American way of life as the mass production of automobiles.” Wow. Smart guy. Abide.
