This is the part of our journey named September 2nd, 2021. Marcus Aurelias, who was the Emperor of Rome from 161 until the year 180 said, “Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.” He captured the way life feels to me sometimes. Today is National Blueberry Popsicle Day, Spalding Baseball Day, World Coconut Day, Victory over Japan Day and Pierce Your Ears Day. We could put the lime in the coconut and drink um both up (one of my favorite songs). Now let’s look at what happened on this day. In 1666 the Great Fire of London began and 80% of London was destroyed. This is the day in 1792 of the September Massacres of the French Revolution took place In Paris when rampaging mobs killed 3 Roman Catholic bishops, more than two hundred priests, and prisoners believed to be royalist sympathizers. Revolutions are messy things. In 1798 on this day the first bank robbery in the US took place at the Bank of Pennsylvania. The take was $162,821. Finally, in 1935 on this day the Labor Day hurricane made landfall in Florida, killing 423 people. It is the strongest and most intense hurricane ever to make landfall in the United States. This is the day that Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese revolutionary, died at the age of 79. He said, “You will kill 10 of our men, and we will kill 1 of yours, and in the end it will be you who tires of it.” That, my friends, is a profound statement and a very good reason to avoid wars in foreign lands. This date in 1973 is when J. R. R. Tolkien’s life stopped. I’ll end this post with a poem he wrote: The greatest adventure is what lies ahead / Today and tomorrow are yet to be said / The chances, the changes are all yours to make / The mold of your life is in your hands to break. Abide.
