I’ll bet that title totally freaked out some of my politically astute and liberal friends. But I’m not talking about my history with THAT George W., I’m talking about my long-term admiration for our first president.
Today is Presidents’ Day. Note where the apostrophe goes in Presidents’ Day. That’s right, today acknowledges more than one president. And when the word is both plural and possessive, the apostrophe goes after the “s”.
But enough about punctuation; let’s return to the history lesson at hand.
As you may (or may not) know, today’s federally-created, third Monday in February “holiday,” lumps together the birthdays of both Lincoln and Washington. And it’s a damn shame.
In my elementary teaching days, I made sure my students were aware of the contributions of both men, individually, on their appropriate birthdays. I enjoyed teaching the stories and songs celebrating each one. (And on Washington’s birthday, I often brought in cherry pie as a reward for completing homework.)
Unfortunately, February 12th and 22nd don’t always conveniently extend a weekend, and so today we get only one day of remembrance, which often means no more to our children than just another day off from school.
Perhaps when they grow older, they’ll understand the true reason behind this special holiday, which is, of course: Presidents’ Day Sales.
