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W E HAVE way too many holidays in this country,
All right, what elderly observance is right around the corner?
No, it's not Labor Day, for this was a trick question.
"Elderly" was the big clue, for it's Grandparent's Day, and that happens the first Sunday after Labor Day, so it will be celebrated this year on Sept. 11.
Celebrated how? You might ask.
Well, according the Grandparent's Day History Web site I found, you're supposed to let grandparents show love for their children's children.
Just how many grandparents out there need any help at all in that department?
We're also encouraged to be nice to them. Come on. How many young kids don't like their Pop-Pop and Nanna? We need a national holiday for this? This celebration was started decades ago in West Virginia by then-Gov. Arch Moore. If memory serves me right, ol' Arch ended up serving hard time in the slammer on corruption charges. We should be honoring this guy? No; Grandparent's Day ought to be thrown out. I prefer to think of Sept. 11 today as Patriots Day anyway.
Federal holidays yet to be observed this year are Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. There's no problem with any of these except maybe Christmas.
The question is: Why only Christmas? And, coming up every spring, you can add in Easter. These days, it's so im-
I'm serious. I don't have a clue how to do it, but we ought not to ignore the religious and cultural heritage of other people who live among us if we're going to be making such a big deal every year with the Christian holiday of Christmas.
That's just a thought.
Halloween isn't so far away, and we're celebrating that day all wrong anymore. Folks are decorating their yards now, far more than in the past, and that's OK, but kids don't seem to be having as much fun at all scaring the daylights out of each other. Heck, many schools won't even let the little ones wear any costumes anymore, and they better not utter that appalling word "Halloween" while out on the recess ground. Do you really think a 6-year-old knows or cares anything at all about Druidic beliefs and Satanism? Little kids a generation ago used to get scared, frighten each other, wear neat costumes and have a little candy in the evening. The bad boys went around soaping some windows. That was all there was to know about Halloween. How much harm was really done for all the smiles given to so many little children? And, speaking now as a true "bad boy" from long ago we soaped only the windows of the people who deserved it in our neighborhoods.
Halloween today is called the "fall festival"; "winter break" is what Christmas vacation used to be; and "spring break" currently is the innocuous proxy for Easter. See, I told you. We're so politically correct anymore with some of these things.
I like Valentine's Day, Groundhog Day is always a hoot--watching those old guys in tuxedos up in Pennsylvania on the nightly news--and there's nothing in the world wrong with St. Patrick's Day or Earth Day or Mother's Day or Father's Day either.
However, those Career Days they now have in all the schools I do take exception with, and for reason.
A Career Day held in a high school is a great idea. This one event could really alter the life of so many kids, for they might never have considered a career in journalism, graphic design or running a bait and tackle store. Young kids could really be inspired by a talk from someone who was successful and happy in a field they had never given any thought to for themselves.
However, a line needs to be drawn about having all these Career Days now in so many of our elementary schools.
How far removed are those little boys from all wanting to be a policeman, fireman or Spiderman? First selection for girls would probably be ballerina--or tennis pro, maybe, if they follow sports.
No.
Most kids that little are so far from making lifelong career decisions that a Career Day for them is an absolute waste of time. Instead, they could be learning something in math, or even a new spelling word or two.
For sure, we ought to get rid of the Career Days in elementary schools.
Take Your Kid to Work Day is another ritual that ought to get the hook.
Please.
Again, the kids miss a day at school and what exactly are they learning? It's a "bonding time," I've been told. I don't buy that at all. The parents who actually take the time and make the effort to haul their kids with them to work are the parents who make sacrifices and spend quality time with their children anyway. It's those kids left back in school, who don't ever get to go anywhere, who need some parental attention.
We ought to force all the parents who don't take their kids to work on that special day to come into the schools the following week and stay with their children there for at least one entire day.
That would be an eye-opener.
Don't even get me started on Take Your Pet to Work Day. I'm a dog lover, too, and have even met a few cats I could tolerate.
That one is just insane.
We could easily eliminate Bosses Day on Oct. 16, and everyone would certainly be happier without Tax Day every April 15.
Then again, Popeye's birthday is coming up Jan. 17.
JIM KUNDRESKAS of Louisa County near Lake Anna has been an outdoors writer for more than 20 years. Contact him at Zbasser@aol.com.
