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Feb 19, 2001

An Official US Government Holiday

I’m sorry, but there’s not much I can do with Presidents’ Day.
It’s not a Traditional holiday, except in the way that the birthday of the king might be celebrated, which is exactly the sort of thing this country was supposed to get away from, and it’s certainly not a holy day, but it’s on the schedule, and I’m not complaining. Of course it’s the government’s schedule, which amounts to proclaiming a holiday on your own behalf, a bit unseemly, if you ask me. The old habit of celebrating both Washington and Lincoln’s birthdays had more grass roots sincerity, but the Monday Holiday Act consolidated the too close February dates, and gave equal honor to all the chief executives. That’s Democracy in action, I guess, and the only way most of those guys could support a holiday. So for the sake of Richard Nixon and Warren Harding and all the others, I’ll condescend to take the day off. I’ll go to the Park, and watch a flock of Pigeons wheel and turn as one, without a discernible leader, and I’ll wonder how it’s done.

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