Y'know, in the great scheme of things, I could really do without President's (Presidents'?) Day. It's a pretty lame holiday when the only thing I have to look forward to is not getting any bills in the mail -- because they're not delivering the mail.
Truth is, we don't even know for certain what the day is supposed to commemorate. Is it to honor the presidency (President's)? Or the august individuals who have held the office (Presidents')? If it is the former, shouldn't we also look into commemorating other positions of significance with their own day of postal abstinence (e.g. Supreme Court Justice's Day, Speaker of the House's Day) in good regard to the Constitutional principle of checks and balances -- perhaps tossing in a Governor's Day as a nod to federalism as well.
If it's meant to honor the occupants of the office -- then I fear the basis for the holiday becomes a bit more dicey. How much honor do we really want to heap onto James Buchanan, John Tyler, Warren Harding and, everyones favorite, Dick Nixon? With that rogue's gallery as a reference -- I'm really not certain just what it is we're celebrating.
I doubt if the situation would have arisen if George Washington and Abe Lincoln had had the foresight to be born in separate months. Taking a day off for both of their birthdays was a bit much in a month that's short on days to start with -- so Congress, back in the day when compromise wasn't a dirty word -- split the difference and made two holidays into one. A good thing for colleciton agencies and junk mailers, but no real plus for the rest of us.
So once again, I failed to put up my President's' Day tree, send out my President's' Day cards, rent a President's' Day costume and go to midnight President's' Day Mass. I didn't have a big President's' Day dinner or set off President's' Day fireworks.
I just looked into my empty mailbox and said, "Oh yeah...President's' Day..."
Anyway, I hope your's was a happy one.
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