Too much to celebrate in 28 days
It was January and I was either going to or from Dr. Harvey’s class. The posters along my route informed me that January was Folic Acid Awareness Month.
I had been anticipating Folic Acid Awareness Month for most of the year but somewhere between the end of finals and the best New Year’s Eve I’ve had in a year, I forgot all about it.
Anyway, the poster for Folic Acid Awareness Month fueled my curiosity for awareness.
So upon going home one January day I checked the Internet for more things I should be celebrating or at least aware of.
Thankfully the “Feast of the Circumcision” had already passed me by without incident (it was January 1 by the way, and it sounds disgusting).
However, I found the coming month of February would be a problem.
Now, most associate February with Valentine’s Day and a host of sporting and awards events – the Super Bowl, Daytona 500, the Oscars, the Pro-Bowl, the Grammy Awards, the Westminster Dog Show and perhaps most important of all, the Puppy Bowl.
For most, the wide array of events is enough, if not too much. But the powers that be also dedicated February to be — among other things — American Heart Month, Black History Month, Library Lover’s Month, National Bird-Feeding Month and National Hot Breakfast Month.
I hope you all were able to celebrate accordingly, because I had a rough time.
First of all, I don’t really enjoy breakfast, especially hot breakfast – unless coffee counts. I do enjoy bacon and eggs, but they probably aren’t good for my heart. Oatmeal is good for my heart, but I don’t like it much.
This got me wondering if I could feed my hot breakfast to the birds outside, but eventually I just gave up all together.
Furthermore, I slept really late on the only day I’d think about having hot breakfast: National Pancake Day (February 20). I wasn’t sure if pancakes at 3 p.m. would count as breakfast so I just ate a groundhog and prepared for six more weeks of winter.
I wasn’t too sure about how to celebrate Black History Month. In an attempt to kill two birds with one stone, I stolled to the library for a book about Motown.
After lovingly giving the lovely librarian my card I was told I had too many books out, so they wouldn’t lend me the book. This made me anything feel anything but love for the library.
However, when Bob Marley Day came February 6, I sang out loud to “Iron Lion Zion” and basked in my accomplishment/awareness.
The end of Bob Marley Day eventually led to National Inventor’s Day, Mardi Gras celebrations and President’s Day, just to name a few.
Ultimately, I felt I had gone crazy. This is the shortest month of the year.
Why can’t we spread all these celebrations and holidays a little more equitably around the calendar? Maybe we could even do away with some of them.
I mean, do people really need to celebrate World Thinking Day every February 22? I think every day. Who came up with this?
My apologies to the fine folks with the Girl Scouts, but shouldn’t we be setting a better example for our youth? Has our society become so unintelligent that we need to set aside one day a year to think? I do so while flossing.
Maybe we fill February with all the celebrations because it is otherwise easily forgotten.
Just look at the “Thirty Days Hath September” rhyme/song. Which month is left for the very end and doesn’t even rhyme with the rest of the song?
It’s not like they couldn’t change the rhyme because it was so good. It’s because they forgot about February and nobody cares.
Have a good March.
Davin is a junior studying English education.
Columnists' opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of The Spectrum