It’s March 24th, 2022. I’m glad to be alive to enjoy this new day. It’s only a few hours old and I haven’t looked at the news yet. Probably the same chaos today as yesterday but it’s only a problem if I decide to allow it to be. I don’t have to participate. We can decide to celebrate one or more of the following: National Cheesesteak Day, National Chocolate Covered Raisins Day, International Day of Achievers and (drum roll) National Cocktail Day! Since I’m an Ordained Priest of the Latter Day Church of the Dude, I make myself a White Russian which is Mr. Lebowski’s favorite cocktail. Now to the interesting footnotes of history. On this day in 1832, Mormon leader Joseph Smith was beaten, tarred & feathered in Ohio. That kept him moving West. On this day in 1837 Canada gave its black citizens the right to vote. In 1906 the “Census of the British Empire” showed that Great Britain ruled 1/5th of the world. In 1930 on this date, the 1st religious services were telecast in the US. This is one of America’s darkest days because on this day in 1942 the US government began moving native-born citizens with Japanese ancestry into detention centers under Executive Order 9066. Today our trip to the cemetery is to visit the grave of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who died on this day in 1882. Henry said, “The great tragedy of the average man is that he goes to his grave with his music still in him.” “In this world a man must either be anvil or hammer.” “We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.” Since Longfellow was a poet, I’ll end with this: “Kind hearts are the gardens, Kind thoughts are the roots, Kind words are the flowers, Kind deeds are the fruits, Take care of your garden And keep out the weeds, Fill it with sunshine, Kind words and Kind deeds.” Abide.
