[Note: Any resemblance to persons living or dead may be a coincidence].
There are too many awareness months. I hear about them on the radio, on TV, and on the radio. They're plastered all over the internet. I'm not against the idea of making people aware of social issues. I am all for anything that helps to inform society and helps it grow to engender what our founding fathers envisioned for everyone: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". [John Locke said it first, but Thomas Jefferson made it famous in the Declaration of Independence. Is there no National Plagiarism Day yet?].
I have been unfairly accused of being generally unfeeling, unsympathetic, and UNAWARE.
It's not true. Just because I barricaded myself in my office once and canceled all appointments and classes when I found out that it was National Scleroderma Awareness Day a few years back, a lot of people hate me. It makes me wonder: is it because there are so many sclerodermics walking these halls, or is there something inherently wrong with wanting to avoid something that sounds like it swells, cracks, festers, and oozes? Hey, I became aware of scleroderma, and I acted. So cover me in grits and pour milk on me. (That may happen on National Cover a Jerk With Grits Day. I don't know).
We could declare one month of the year for everyone to be aware of all things pertaining to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, but it isn't isn't feasible. The human mind can handle so much awareness--- good or bad--- at one time. Just the ongoing situational awareness that's required to survive in today's world is enough to send us all to the madhouse. A whole month, day, hour, and minute of awareness of all of the other stuff could cause a run on the banks, food hoarding, mass hysteria, and over-dependence upon NyQuil.
Some special awareness days should be left untouched and celebrated freely. It took waaaay too long for America to accept Martin Luther King Day. Gay Pride finally gained acceptance in much of America, and Juneteenth is now America's Second Independence Day. These are the things that should be celebrated or (at least) observed in some small way by everyone, but even that could be asking too much. We need to go in the other direction.
We need to clear the calendars. There are too many awareness days and months. Let's get rid of most of them. The biggest offender in my book is National Accordion Awareness Month. A whole month! That's right. That was the month of June. I waited until the end of this month to to mention it. I wanted to help preserve people's sense of inner peace.
My Uncle Bud died awhile back, and I wrote about him and his journey to accordion stardom in the Catskills. In his time, he was more famous than Myron Floren. Bud confided in me that he was more popular than Myron not because of his virtuosity (he was an excellent musician) but because of his ability to tell a joke. Myron Floren had to stand in front of the camera and smile. Nobody ever heard him say a word on camera. Lawrence Welk wouldn't let him.
Uncle Bud, however, told jokes during his act at Grossinger's and Abelman's, some of them dirty, many of them objectionable in some way or another. But they were always funny.
One of my favorites:
A young man and a rabbi stood waiting for a subway. The young man turned to the rabbi and asked, "Excuse me. What time is it?"
The rabbi turned away.
The young man asked again. "Excuse me, rabbi. Can you tell me the time?"
The rabbi ignored the young man again.
The young man persisted. "My good rabbi. Why do you ignore me? All I ask is that you tell me the time."
The rabbi turned to the young man and said, "Why am I ignoring you? I'll tell you why I am ignoring you. If I tell you the time, you'll probably follow me onto the subway and sit down next to me, and we'll probably talk to each other, and I'll probably like you and invite you to dinner, and you'll meet my daughter, and you'll fall in love and get married, AND WHY WOULD I WANT A SON-IN-LAW WHO'S TOO CHEAP TO BUY HIS OWN WATCH?"
My point is that we're being asked to be aware of the wrong things. Who cares about a watch? Accordions don't mean much in the scheme of life. It's people that matter. That's why we have Juneteenth, Gay Pride Month, and Martin Luther King Day.
Let's celebrate and concern ourselves with people, not things.
For more information about the things that you probably missed during the month of June, Check out this out.
