We have now moved to the stretch of time/space called October 11, 2023. In many parts of the world, it’s not a good place to be. When people are trying to kill you and the people you love, you don’t have the luxury of ignoring the negatives and pursing happiness. I’m grateful that I have that luxury and I intend to use it again today. October 11 is Bullying Prevention Day, Emergency Nurses Day, International Day of the Girl Child, National Coming Out Day, National Food Truck Day, National Its My Party Day, National Sausage Pizza Day, Southern Food Heritage Day and You Go Girl Day. You still have a few days to celebrate Local Wine Week. Now some history: On this day in 1864 slavery was abolished in Maryland. On this day in 1906 the San Francisco Board of Education orders segregated schools for Japanese, Chinese, and Korean children. On this day in 1929 JC Penney opened store #1252 in Milford, Delaware, making it a national wide company with stores in all 48 states. On this day in 1949 Costa Rica abolished its army. On this day in 1975 “Saturday Night Live” premiered on NBC with George Carlin as the host. On this day in 1983 the last hand-cranked telephone in the US went out of service. I remember using one and we were on a “party” line. On this day in 1987 200,000 people marched for gay and lesbian civil rights in Washinton D.C. On this day in 1991 televangelist Jimmy Swaggart was caught soliciting a prostitute. Today’s first dead person is the French poet Jean Cocteau who said, “We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don’t like?” Next is Eleanor Roosevelt because it’s her birthday (1884). She said, “Nothing has ever been achieved by the person who says it can’t be done” and “I can’t tell you how to succeed, but I can tell you how to fail: Try to please everybody.” I’ll wrap this one up with a quote from Aristotle. He said, “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and the end of human existence.” Abide.
