April 7, 2023. Yesterday was a good day because nothing bad happened. That statement means that each day is an “either or” proposition. Bad days are inevitable. My goal is to have as few bad days as possible and to eliminate the self-inflicted ones. I’ve paid the price of bad decisions numerous times. Today’s a new day and I will focus on making this a good one. Today is International Beaver Day, National Coffee Cake Day, Metric System Day, National Making the First Move Day, National no Housework Day, National Walk to Work Day, Poet in a cupcake Day, Public Television Day, Student Government Day, and National Beer Day which is the obvious event to be celebrated. Onto history: On this day in 1712 there was a slave revolt in New York that killed 6 white men. 21 slaves were executed. On this day in 1795 France adopts the metre as the basic measurement of length. On this day in 1805 Lewis and Clark left Fort Mandan to begin their journey to the Pacific Ocean. On this day in 1891 Nebraska introduced the 8-hour workday. I find this footnote strange since Nebraska is mostly farms and that’s a dawn to dusk work day. On this day in 1933 the Cullen-Harrison Act was passed legalizing the sale of low alcohol beer (3.2%). On this day in 1943 the National Football League made the free substitution rule, make helmets mandatory and instituted a 10-game schedule for all teams. On this day in 1959 Oklahoma ended prohibition which had been in effect for 51 years. On this day in 1988 Russia announced that it would withdraw it’s forces from Afghanistan. The first dead person for today is the songwriter singer John Prine who said, “Bewildered, bewildered, you have no complaint. You are what you are, and you ain’t what you ain’t” and “Now Jesus, he don’t like killing, no matter what the reason is for, and your flag decal won’t get you into heaven anymore.” I’ll end with Henry Ford who needs no introduction. He said, “A poor man is not the one without a cent. A poor man is the one without a dream” and “don’t expect people to respect you for what you are planning to do.” That’s enough for this day. Abide.
