Today is more than just a cold day

In addition to being a very cold day in January, today is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We didn’t celebrate this as a holiday when I was a child. It wasn’t because we were racists who would never consider celebrating any day not honoring a white man, but because it didn’t become a holiday until 1983.
In the years before his death in 1968 King helped change America by challenging the status quo. In our small community we watched the unrest with a vague sense of unease. Any change is usually met with suspicion. As there were no people of color in our community, (the term, “black” wasn’t in popular use at the time) we saw the happenings in Memphis and other far away places as not really applying to our own lives. We were wrong.
While we, as a country, have not yet met King’s dream of judging people by the content of their character instead of by the color of their skins, we have come a lot closer to that ideal.
Back in King’s day, it would have been unthinkable that we could ever have a mixed race person as our president. Which brings me to another thing that happens today. It is Inauguration Day. It was supposed to be yesterday. But since January 20 fell on a Sunday this year, the public ceremony is today.
Inauguration didn’t always happen on a frigid day in January. George Washington was first inaugurated on April 30, 1789, and for his second term on March 4, 1793.
We kept the inaugural date as March 4 until Franklin Roosevelt’s ceremony was held on January 20, 1937. We have stuck with cold January since then.
Today also commemorates something far less lofty than a dream of true equality and the inauguration of our president. It is Squirrel Appreciation Day. Christy Hargrove from Asheville, North Carolina, started Squirrel Appreciation Day on January 21, 2001. Hargrove is a wildlife rehabilitator in North Carolina, and is affiliated with the Western North Carolina Nature Center.
Squirrels provide many benefits. My great-uncle Harley was said to enjoy squirrel for dinner. I have never tried this, nor do I intend to. Squirrels are adept at aerating my flowerpots and parts of my lawn by digging lots and lots of holes. Squirrels are gardeners. They plant many trees, as contrary to popular opinion, they don’t always remember where they buried the nuts they collected.
They have great entertainment value. Who hasn’t smiled as the furry creatures scampered up and down trees or across utility lines? They can be a deterrent to obesity in the local bird population as they are adept at stealing seeds from bird feeders. The birds retaliate as squirrels are sometimes a tasty treat for hawks and owls. Foxes, coyotes, and other predators will also make a meal of them.
While you are appreciating the squirrels, watching the inauguration and pondering the changes brought about by a civil rights activist, you can also celebrate National Hugging Day.
National Hugging Day was created in 1986 by Reverend Kevin Zaborney from Caro, Michigan. Strangely, this day is copyrighted but is not a real national holiday. Zaborney thought of the idea while studying psychology at the University of Michigan. He said he realized “there was no such day to observe the very important act of hugging one another.”
We humans need hugs almost as much as we need air to breathe. We instinctively hug babies, small children and our loved ones. Hugs benefit both the hugger and the huggee.
When celebrating this day remember to ask before hugging someone. There are people who do not like this form of interaction or who have medical problems that are made worse by an over-enthusiastic hug.
If you choose not to celebrate all or any of these holidays perhaps you would rather wait until tomorrow when it’s National Blonde Brownie Day. Just don’t try to celebrate today by hugging a squirrel. They might bite.[[In-content Ad]]