September 11, 2021. There will be plenty of coverage of the 20th anniversary of the attack on America. I anticipate a lot of patriotic symbols and flag waving. There has never been much coverage of why they did it. It turned out to have been a very bad plan. Metaphorically, they climbed into the cage and poked the tiger with a stick. 9/11/2001 is still a vivid memory but it is in the past and I exist in the present. I’m going to make this 9/11 a good day. I’ve got two 10-year-old little girls coming to spend the day with Tamma and Bubbha. How great is that? On this day, aside from The National Day of Service And Remembrance Day, we have I Want To Start My Own Business Day, Make Your Bed Day, International Drive Your Studebaker Day, National Hot Cross Bun Day, National Emergency Responders Day, Women’s Baseball Day and Patriot’s Day. Now to some historical foot notes. In 1649 on this day, Oliver Cromwell killed 3,000 royalists in what is known as the Massacre of Drogheda Ireland. On this day in 1777, Benjamin Franklin wrote “There has never been a good war or a bad peace.” On this day in 1813 British troops arrived in Mount Vernon and prepared to march and invade Washington D.C. This was the war of 1812 which was fought in the U.S. and Canada. On this day in 1919 the Marines invaded Honduras to protect the interests of American plantation owners. This is where the term “Banana Republic” comes from. This date in 1973 the Chilean coup supported by the Nixon administration engineered the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende and would lock Chile in a 17-year dictatorship, leaving around 3,000 people dead or missing. Finally, this is the day in 2012 that the U.S. embassy in Benghazi Libya is attacked, resulting in four deaths. Lots and lots of bad stuff happened on this date. This is the day in 1524 that the French poet Pierre de Ronsard was born. He said, “Live now, believe me, wait not till tomorrow; Gather the roses of life today”. This is also the day in 1958 that Robert W. Service stopped living. He was a poet and known as the “Bard of the Yukon”. He said, “Just draw on your grit: It’s so easy to quit – It’s the keeping your chin up that’s hard.” That’s plenty for today. Abide.
