February 25th 2024. It just occurred to me when I was getting set up to write this post that the driving force in America seems to be hate. Humans do have a negative bias so it’s kind of understandable but sad just the same. We hate the illegal immigrants and refugees (they are different groups), gays and transgenders, socialists, liberal teachers, the homeless, different races and frankly, anyone who disagrees with us. Was it always this way? Now that I’ve made myself slightly depressed, I will be grateful that I’m not a hateful person. Today is Let’s All Eat Right Day, National Chocolate Covered Nuts Day, National Clam Chowder Day, National Pistol Patent Day, Quiet Day, and Rubber Ducky Day. Now some history. On this day in 1570 Pope Pius V excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I of England for heresy. He also absolved her subjects from allegiances to the crown. Seems like a clear case of Church vs. State. On this day in 1643 Dutch colonists killed 120 Algonquin Indians at Communipaw, New Jersey in what is known as the Pavonia Massacre. On this day in 1836 Samuel Colt patented the 1st muti-shot revolving-cylinder revolver. On this day in 1836 P.T. Barnum exhibited an African American slave named Joice Heth and claimed that she was the 161-year-old nursemaid to George Washington. On this day in 1924 Marie Boyd scored 156 points in Maryland HS basketball game (163 -3). This is the day in 1957 that Buddy Holly and the Crickets recorded “That’ll Be the Day” in Clovis, New Mexico. This is the day in 1964 that Muhammad Ali won his first heavyweight title by beating Sonny Liston. Today’s dead person is the playwright and author Tennessee Williams who said, “Guessing isn’t knowing.” “There comes a time when you look into the mirror, and you realize that what you see is all that you will ever be. And then you accept it. Or you kill yourself. Or you stop looking in mirrors.” “Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.” “You can be young without money, but you can’t be old without it.” “I think that hate is a feeling that can only exist where there is no understanding.” And we’re back to where I started. Abide.
