It is the 8th day of November 2020. I feel a little like the contestant on American Ninja who has just cleared the first obstacle. There’s a long way to go to get to the finish line. All the more important for me to practice what I preach which is to let go of yesterday and tomorrow and focus on today. So I will. Today is Abet And Aid Punster Day (What was Forrest Gump’s email password? 1forrest1), Cook Something Bold Day, International Tongue Twister Day (Can you can a can as a canner can can a can?), National Cappuccino Day, National Dunce Day and my pick, National Harvey Wallbanger Day (vodka, Galliano liqueur, and orange juice). Now to the hisotry of this day. In 1519 on this day is the 1st meeting of Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II and Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés in Tenochtitlan, Mexico. This was the beginning of the end of the Aztec empire. On this day in 1731 In Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin opens 1st library in the colonies. This is the day in 1798 Irish revolutionary Wolfe Tone is sentenced to death by hanging for his part in the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Tone requests to be shot instead so as to die a soldier’s death. As an aside, the Wolfe Tones is the name of a popular Irish band that plays rebellion songs. On this day in 1932 amidst the Great Depression, Democrat candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected President of the United States, defeating Republican incumbent Herbert Hoover. This is the day in 1897 that Dorothy Day, American journalist and social activist started her life. She said, “I have long since come to believe that people never mean half of what they say, and that it is best to disregard their talk and judge only their actions.” This is also the day in 1970 that Napoleon Hill, American writer and philosopher (Think and Grow Rich), dies at 87. He said, “It takes half your life before you discover life is a do-it-yourself project.” I’m now going to start living this once in my lifetime day. Abide.
