Throughout our careers, we have all enjoyed long holiday weekends. Remember, we would say, “We will have a little R&R” meaning Rest and Relaxation?

Aren’t we lucky that holidays always fall on Monday so we can take advantage of that 3 day weekend stretch? Obviously, they were not always planned that way.

George Washington went through his entire life celebrating his birthday on February 22. People my age will remember when the calendars had George Washington’s Birthday printed on that little square. In the late 1960s congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. That changed George Washington’s birthday to the third Monday in February. They also changed the name of the holiday to President’s Day.

I am sure  congress will eventually get around to changing Jesus’ Birthday since they have no problems to solve, right? It will become Divinity Day celebrated on the third Monday in December. Our congressional Muslims will love to see the word CHRISTmas removed from our calendars. The Monday belonging to Memorial Day is peeking around the corner. Do you wonder how that day of celebration started? 

In 1868, Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the grand Army of the Republic issued what was called General Order Number 11, designating May 30 as a memorial day. He declared it to be “for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land.” Where do you suppose that first Memorial Day took place?

The first national celebration of Memorial Day (originally Decoration Day) took place May 30, 1868, at Arlington National Cemetery. The national observance of Memorial Day still takes place there today, with the placing of a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the decoration of each grave with a small American flag. The holiday has changed a bit since it first began, which some argue was even earlier than Logan’s dedication.

Southern women decorated the graves of soldiers even before the end of the Civil War. In 1866, after the war, a women’s memorial association in Columbus, Mississippi, put flowers on the graves of both Confederate and Union soldiers. This act of generosity inspired the poem by Francis Miles Finch, “The Blue and the Gray,” published in the Atlantic Monthly. Federal law changed the observance of the holiday to the last Monday in May and extended it to honor all those who died in American wars. People pay tribute not only with flowers but also with speeches and parades.

I revere Memorial Day. I hope everyone in Tolley’s Topics Readerland has safe celebrations on Memorial Day. Enjoy your old fashioned R&R. Will you do me a little favor?

Tomorrow….try a serving of another kind of R&R….Respect & Reflection….to honor our many Americans who…GAVE THEIR ALL… for us. 

 

We Love You…Just Keeping it real, my Friends.
Just keeping it REAL!
-Sheila Tolley-

 

These first three MEMES are Frame-Worthy!
-Sheila Tolley-

I have killed rattlesnakes in the barn, in the shop and on the driveway.

In fact, I kill every rattlesnake I encounter. I kill rattlesnakes because I know a rattlesnake will bite me and inject me with poison. I don’t stop to wonder WHY a rattlesnake will bite me.

I know it WILL bite me because it’s a rattlesnake and that’s what rattlesnakes do.

I don’t try to reason with a rattlesnake or have a “meaningful dialogue” with it. I just kill it.

I don’t try to get to know the rattlesnake better so I can find a way to live with the rattlesnakes and convince them not to bite me.. I just kill them.

I don’t quiz a rattlesnake to see if I can find out where the other snakes are, because (a) it won’t tell me and (b) I already know they live on my place. So, I just kill the rattlesnake and move on to the next one.

I don’t look for ways I might be able to change the rattlesnake to a non-poisonous rat snake I just kill it. Oh, and on occasion, I accidentally kill a rat snake because I thought it was a rattlesnake at the time.

Also, I know for every rattlesnake I kill, two more are lurking out there in the brush. In my lifetime I will never be able to rid my place of rattlesnakes.

Do I fear them? Not really. Do I respect what they can do to me and my family? Yes!

And because of that respect, I give them the fair justice they deserve. I kill them. As a country, we should start giving more thought to the fact that these jihadists’ are telling the world their goal is to kill Americans and destroy our way of life.

They have posted graphic videos on the Internet showing them beheading Americans. They are serious. They are exactly like rattlesnakes. It is high time for us to start acting accordingly!

I love this country. It’s the damn government I’m afraid of!

 Now ask me why I am very concerned!
Do you feel OK with this? How can this happen? When will we wake up?
We are quiet while our country is being drastically changed!