Posted 3:35 am Sunday, April 29, 2012
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A Good Time To Clean
So recently, actually about last December, a guy who works out at the gym where I exercise came over and told me he wanted me to write a column about why we celebrate Christmas day on Dec. 25. At the time I nodded politely and actually told him I would see if our religion editor could give the project some attention. Well Christmas came and went and I never got the thing off the ground.
The man was nominally irritated and whenever we would greet each other at the gym he would remind me of not taking the assignment to completion. So, a few months went by, actually about three, and he stopped by again, probably during my workout and saw I was in pain and said, “Well, since you didn’t do so well on that Christmas thing I want you to find out why we celebrate Easter when we do and who determines it.
“I know you probably won’t get this one done either because you didn’t get the last one done, so I’m not gonna hold my breath.” All of this is while I’m probably trying in vain to catch my breath. A light of sorts went off and I said, “You know, this sounds like a job for Bubba. Bubba hasn’t had any questions to answer lately so I think I will check in with him and see if he is willing to tackle the project.”
The Bubba strategy has worked pretty well, but even though Bubba has the project in hand it is still languishing in the file that stares us all in the face. The longer we stare at it the more we expect something cosmic to happen and actually get the thing done on its own, right next to the file with the winning lotto numbers.
The man was nominally irritated and whenever we would greet each other at the gym he would remind me of not taking the assignment to completion. So, a few months went by, actually about three, and he stopped by again, probably during my workout and saw I was in pain and said, “Well, since you didn’t do so well on that Christmas thing I want you to find out why we celebrate Easter when we do and who determines it.
“I know you probably won’t get this one done either because you didn’t get the last one done, so I’m not gonna hold my breath.” All of this is while I’m probably trying in vain to catch my breath. A light of sorts went off and I said, “You know, this sounds like a job for Bubba. Bubba hasn’t had any questions to answer lately so I think I will check in with him and see if he is willing to tackle the project.”
The Bubba strategy has worked pretty well, but even though Bubba has the project in hand it is still languishing in the file that stares us all in the face. The longer we stare at it the more we expect something cosmic to happen and actually get the thing done on its own, right next to the file with the winning lotto numbers.
Well, you may wonder where all this is going, and you should because it brings us to the core topics of the day. First, why must we do certain things at certain times and who decides we must do these things and who gave them the authority to do so?
These lines of thinking reek of a Libertarian strain we often see in this part of the state, but I don’t know if that has anything to do with where all this started.
Second, it is time to get things done which have been in the aforementioned file. Since spring is almost over and if you have not performed the spring cleaning you should have, today is a good day to start and get with the program.
These lines of thinking reek of a Libertarian strain we often see in this part of the state, but I don’t know if that has anything to do with where all this started.
Second, it is time to get things done which have been in the aforementioned file. Since spring is almost over and if you have not performed the spring cleaning you should have, today is a good day to start and get with the program.
Therefore, be it resolved here in writing, that by next Sunday either Bubba or I will have an answer to why we celebrate the holidays in question on the dates they are celebrated. I cannot, however, answer the question posed to me this week of why children need to have a proper graduation ceremony from kindergarten with caps and gowns.
Bubba, being of German heritage, would agree it is probably an abuse of the original intent of the man who invented kindergarten in Germany in the 1840s, and it does not fit the efficiency or utilitarianism we so often see coming from that country and its people.
I think we need less pomp and more circumstance injected into our educational processes. In fact after almost raising four children I could easily reflect on a case for year-round school. Talk about who sets those schedules and where they got the authority. But I digress.
Bubba, being of German heritage, would agree it is probably an abuse of the original intent of the man who invented kindergarten in Germany in the 1840s, and it does not fit the efficiency or utilitarianism we so often see coming from that country and its people.
I think we need less pomp and more circumstance injected into our educational processes. In fact after almost raising four children I could easily reflect on a case for year-round school. Talk about who sets those schedules and where they got the authority. But I digress.
Be it further resolved I will continue cleaning everything in my general environment (except for one thing which is totally off-limits) in the interest of promoting harmony and sanity in my work and home places.
This has been good because I finally responded to Mike this week on a list of books we should recommend that he gave me about four years ago. It was a real relief to check that one off my list.
If you get something dropped off on your doorstep in the next few weeks you weren’t expecting, it is probably from me and was probably in a my desk or sock drawer.
All of these things are really important because we all know May is the busiest month of the year, and while I don’t know who decided it should happen that way, it just is. So take a deep breath people and get out the Windex and put on those yellow gloves because May is here, and we won’t catch our breath again until the first cold front in September, or maybe October the way things have been going.
This has been good because I finally responded to Mike this week on a list of books we should recommend that he gave me about four years ago. It was a real relief to check that one off my list.
If you get something dropped off on your doorstep in the next few weeks you weren’t expecting, it is probably from me and was probably in a my desk or sock drawer.
All of these things are really important because we all know May is the busiest month of the year, and while I don’t know who decided it should happen that way, it just is. So take a deep breath people and get out the Windex and put on those yellow gloves because May is here, and we won’t catch our breath again until the first cold front in September, or maybe October the way things have been going.
