I will bet that you do not know what today is known for? Looking it up on Google I found the following significant events that April 15 honors.
- National Laundry Day
- Purple Up! Day
- National Glazed Spiral Ham Day
- National Titanic Remembrance Day
- National Take a Wild Guess Day
- National Tax Day
I realize that it is also the day that Trump starts a trial that might just end up in his being charged with a felony. However, I do not want to say another word or even hear another word about Chump. If there is hell, I am sure that it will be a place where you get to listen to or read about Chump all day long. My greatest fear these days (since I do not know how much longer I will be in this world) is that if I get to heaven, I will find Chump there. Can you imagine a worse image of heaven than a place where Chump gets to go? Of course, since I don’t believe in heaven, why should I worry about it? I guess it bugs me that just maybe Chump could even get into heaven. I mean what if St. Peter is a Republican? But let’s get back to what April 15th is all about. I would like to say a few words about each of these significant events.
National Laundry Day:
For years, I did the laundry in our family. Every Sunday, I would take our dirty clothes to the local laundry mat. I would take a book to read. I would sort the clothes. Put them in the appropriate washing machines and then the dryers. Finishing up, I would fold all the fresh clean clothes and put them into piles before putting them back into the laundry baskets. I did more than ten years of trips to the laundry mat before finally being able to afford a washer and dryer. I looked forward to the laundry mat as a place to relax, read and sometimes meet other people who had interesting stories to tell. For me the laundry mat was the great democratic washing machine of America. A place where the hoi polloi met on equal terms. A place where politics did not matter, and you could ask someone for change for a dollar without being thought of as a greedy capitalist.
Purple Up! Day:
Truth be told, I had not a clue today was Purple Up day. In fact, I had never heard of this “significant event”. AI on Google gives the following description:
Purple Up! Day is a day to recognize military children and their families and is celebrated on April 15th. The day encourages people to wear purple to represent all branches of the military and show unity with each other. Purple Up! Day is part of the Month of the Military Child, which is celebrated throughout April.
Sorry, I joked about it being a significant event. It is rather a significant event. Military children (My first daughter was one for a year or so) do not always have it easy. I particularly like the idea of wearing purple to show unity and represent all branches. As a military veteran, I think it is important to respect the families of soldiers as well as the soldiers. Life is not always easy for these families or the children of soldiers. Never knowing if their father or mother is coming back and often not seeing them for long periods of time. I need to go out and get a purple t-shirt.
National Glazed Spiral Ham Day:
I don’t much care for ham. However, I do like Costco’s spiral ham. When I was growing up, we always had ham and lasagna on Easter. I seldom eat ham anymore and I rather have fish on Easter than ham. Fish seems more appropriate anyway. If you realize that Christs “last supper” was actually a Passover Seder meal, it seems unlikely that he was eating ham. More likely he was eating some of the following:
Gefilte fish: Poached fish dumplings
Matzo ball soup: Fluffy matzo balls in broth
Brisket or roast chicken: A popular choice
Potato kugel: Casserole-like dish
Tzimmes: Stew of carrots, prunes, potatoes, or sweet potato
Both Judaism and Islam have prohibited eating pork and its products for thousands of years. Scholars have proposed several reasons for the ban to which both religions almost totally adhere. Thus, it seems rather strange that we now see so many families albeit probably Christians eating pork on Easter Sunday. But don’t worry about it. Today April 15th you can eat all the ham or pork that you desire.
National Titanic Remembrance Day:
“At 2:20 a.m. on April 15, 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg and sunk to the bottom of the North Atlantic as members of the ship’s band played “Nearer My God to Thee.” There were not enough lifeboats on the ship as she embarked on her maiden voyage just days before, and 1,514 people lost their lives when the ship hit an iceberg and sank.” — Google
The ship carried some of the richest people in the world on that day. The ship was also billed as “Unsinkable.” Perhaps these two facts tell us much about the hubris of life. “Man plans and God laughs.” No amount of money can save you from death. Over and over the folly of human beings is portrayed in episodes of arrogance and ego that are difficult to imagine. We think humans rule the world, but we are simply fools strutting our stuff like Shakespeare said in Macbeth:
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
National Tax Day:
In the USA, today is technically the last day to file your taxes. Just for the record, I filed mine back in February. I now use Turbo Tax and the package works very well. (I am not getting paid for that plug) I am not sure how anyone can figure out the written tax forms that the IRS provides. I think they were written with the idea of forcing people to either go to an accountant or buy a Turbo Tax program. Any effort to simplify tax forms has been bypassed in favor or making the forms unimaginably complex.
National Take A Wild Guess Day:
Who do you think dreamed this beauty up? Go ahead and take a wild guess? Don’t ask me. I haven’t a clue. I guess I will look this one up later. I swear I did not make it up.
National Rubber Eraser Day:
Centuries before Cancel Policy, we had erasers to cancel things. I never really liked erasers because I think they always left smudges and made the paper look dirty. Erasers do not work at all with type or ink. Pencils to me are an anachronism. I do not understand why people still use them. The lead breaks. You have to sharpen them. You can never find a sharpener when you need one. Dull pencils suck. You can’t just put them in your pocket, or you will poke a hole in your pocket and stab yourself with your lead pencil. Why would anyone want to use a pencil? If you don’t use a pencil, you won’t need a rubber eraser. I would guess that the same people who thought up National Rubber Eraser Day own stock in a pencil company. Take my word for it, buy a nice pen or even better, use a word processer.
That’s It Folks: Have a Happy April 15th.
My apologies for any significant other April 15th events that I have left out.
Aging Capriciously 