it's a date...

it's a date...

  This post marks our 50th publication since November 1, 2019.  Originally, the blog was to be printed every week, but an every two week format was much more doable and went into effect December 20, 2019.

  So, here we are more than a year and a half later. 

  HUH?  What's up with that?

  The original intent was to try to make this a better world and perhaps motivate younger people to treat older citizens with more respect.  The point was made in just a couple blogs and it became increasingly difficult to write negatively about any generation.  By nature, I am a critical person, but none more so than when assessing my own work and attitude.  A change was inevitable. 

  There are a tremendous amount of people of all ages who have a lot of positive contributions to offer and who have achieved success through a variety of different paths.  They are people who make great subject matter and it's been exciting to write about some of them.

  The most read post of the previous 49?  Mask-up, May 15, 2020.  The second highest readership was Pressing Matters, published April 30, 2021.

  Since this is the 50th publication, it brought to mind how we tend to mark milestones.  Certain days, dates, and events are important to us on a personal or cultural level.   

  Earlier this year, President Joe Biden was scrupulously judged by supporters and critics alike based on his actions in his first 100 days in office.  How did that all come about?  Is the first 100 days more important than the second or third 100 days?  

  According to U.S. News, a president's first 100 days in office became a benchmark during Franklin Roosevelt's first term in 1932.  Roosevelt had set such a high bar for his first term and he himself used the phrase, How busy and important the first 100 days have been.  

  

 Roosevelt had called a three-month special session of Congress and in that time had passed 76 new laws, mostly aimed at easing the effects of the Depression. 

  In this year's April 29th issue of U.S. News, writer Kelly Jean Kelly wrote, Since then, U.S. presidents have understood they will be measured by how ambitious and successful their first 100 days in office were.    

  Birthdays are observed annually, but certain ones are more significant.  

  Boys and girls of the Jewish faith anticipate turning 13 and 12 respectively.  Historically, Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah represent a ceremonial recognition that a young person has reached the age when he or she is no longer a minor according to Jewish law. 

  Although obtaining a driver's license at 16 may seem a rite of passage, it is not in the realm of birth, marriage and death or any other significant event in other cultures.  Still, turning 16 is a landmark to most American teens.  

  The 26th Amendment to the United States Constitution gives us another marker.  Eighteen year olds have been able to vote since Richard Nixon signed an extension of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in June of 1970.   

  One of the most controversial minimum age requirements in the United States is the drinking age.  Some states allow 18 year olds the right to take a swig, while others maintain a minimum age of 21.  Worldwide, the average age is 12 when a first drink is taken.  About 80% of young people begin drinking alcoholic beverages regularly by age 15 according the the World Health Organization. 

   Birthdays are not the only markers we hail as we move through life.  

  The dates of the four seasons are well known to most of us.  Perhaps that's because we learned them at such an early age and the repetition of their occurrence allows us to automatically recite each season's approach.   

  Many parts of the country go through an annual time change.  Here in the midwest, as the fall season approaches, clocks are turned back one hour and moved forward as spring arrives.  Even though Ben Franklin had the original idea of daylight savings time (DST), Germany was the first country to observe the change.  During WWI, in an effort to conserve fuel, Germany began DST in 1916.  Europe soon followed and the plan was adopted in the United States in 1918.  

  Annually, there are 10 official federal U.S. holidays and one quadrennial celebration (Election Day).  Most of us look forward to certain holidays for more reasons than it's a day to stay home from work.  

  Many a tale of woe has been told about the man who forgot his wedding anniversary.  It's almost a sacred marking and is celebrated in a variety of ways around the world.

  As an example, the Pont des Arts bridge in Paris is known for couples attaching brass locks to proclaim their love for one another...that is until June of this year.  Love locks arrived in Paris 13 years ago and after hundreds of thousands of couples locked their love for one another, they'd throw away the key in the Seine River.  The practice has been legally stopped.  However, the custom continues in places such as Italy, London, Budapest, Berlin, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Charles Bridge in Prague. 

  According to Hyrell.com, the average time a new hire gets to prove his or her moxie with a new company is 90 days.  Generally, if the person the company is investing time and money doesn't pan out,  he or she is once again collecting unemployment.

  High school graduation is significant for most of us.  As a senior ready to leave boundaries and rules, the fear of the unknown is almost a rite of passage in itself.

  The day we begin a new job whether it's post high school or college is almost ethereal in nature.  With no thought about it at the time, the date and place of employment is rarely forgotten. 

  Besides Memorial Day, we remember our own loved ones on an annual basis.  Usually, the day of their death becomes a personal hallmark.  

  A date of retirement is certainly personal.  The day is permanently etched in my mind.  It also opened a whole new lexicon that previously had been brushed over or skipped because it didn't pertain....Medicare, supplemental insurance, social security, and a whole lot more.  

  We also mark significant historical dates and annually observe their passing.  

  Most of us could probably come close to pinpointing when WW II started and ended, but few of us could site the months of the beginning and ending of WW I, although the year it began and ended readily comes to mind.  

  Perhaps no other American tragedy is annually memorialized like September 11, 2001.  Our grief and shock at the events as they unfolded right before our eyes seems to lessen as years pass.  Perhaps that's because it has become such a fact of life.  

  You no doubt have your own landmarks and important dates in your life.

  Thank you for reading all or part of the past 50 blogs.

  Coming up:  meet more POS; meet the couple who dress the imitators, and; meet a young lady who made it all the way to the end of a TV reality show.   

  By the way, the reason Paris doesn't allow the keys to love locks to be thrown in the Seine any more is because the keys are considered litter.  WoW! We've finally reached the point of no return...not even love can transcend political correctness.

  HUH?  What's up with that?