Presidents and elections

Burnsland

2012-02-17

The Presidents Day holiday is coming up very soon, as in Monday. And in looking it up, I am a bit confused. Some calendars say Presidents Day, some say Presidents’ Day with an apostrophe, and some say Washington’s Birthday. But you can’t fool me - I know that George Washington was born on February 22, not necessarily third Monday in February. That’s what I learned in school.

I was thinking that the holiday was to remember the birthdays of both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, whose birthday was February 12. But apparently, Abe is getting left out of the picture and the day is really all about George. So why doesn’t everyone just call it Washington’s Birthday and drop the whole Presidents Day thing? Good question.

I suppose it really doesn’t matter to most people. Some people enjoy it because they get off of work. Others grumble about it because they don’t get off work. Still others grumble about it because the mail doesn’t run that day, meaning that the bill they waited until the last minute to pay will be even later. And others are happy because of all the Presidents Day sales. Which I have never seen referred to as Washington’s Birthday sales, by the way. I wonder if there are any good deals this year?

All this talk about presidents reminds me of the upcoming presidential election. Surely you know that an election is coming up this year. If you watch any TV at all or listen to any news at all, you can’t escape it, really. Everyone goes on and on about what one candidate said about another. Or what a candidate said about the current President. Or what a candidate did way back in the past. Or how many times a candidate sneezed. Or whatever.

All that is really useful to know, I suppose. But at this point, it really isn’t useful to me. I would like to know where each candidate stands on the important issues. But most of what gets reported today is really meaningless stuff. Apparently, the news stations don’t have all that much real news to report.

Don’t get me wrong. I am all for democracy. I am all for fair elections. I just don’t need to hear every small detail about what every candidate does every minute of the day.

I am glad that we have presidential elections every four years. But I am also glad when they are over.

But anyway, have a happy Presidents Day!