Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Paul Richardson: Don't forget the holiday that's wedged in between Halloween and Thanksgiving


Retailers quite naturally go for the money. It is for that reason that Christmas trees, decorations, and all things December have moved into significant positions of display. 

Retailers need is rational when we hear that the entire year is spent paying for all the overhead, taxes, insurances, labor, and so on, and finances never go into the black until the Christmas season. 

The “Year of the Choking Toad”, 2020, has got to be a real bummer in that aspect. The financial burden has been so great this year that some are probably hoping for a zombie apocalypse as long as the zombies have spendable cash and want to shop.

It is not that Christmas isn’t significant or tons of fun. But the fact remains that we haven’t even made Halloween yet and then there is Thanksgiving. Wedged in between Halloween and Thanksgiving is a day with the greatest significance. That day is Veteran’s Day.








Every year from October 30th through January 2nd, life becomes a mad frenzy of activity. Our time is filled with everything from entertaining the young ones, the only useful purpose for Halloween, to celebrating with family, this defines Thanksgiving in the Richardson family, to spending an unreasonable amount of time searching for the perfect gift only to find out that “they didn’t really want that” or worse yet, seeing someone re-gift the perfect gift you provided in 2019. Then there is New Year’s Eve, which was a lot more significant in the mid-70’s when I was single.

Finally, it is January 2nd and you can relax. Go back to work or return to your normal routine, relaxing in the comfort of knowing that once more you ran the gauntlet and survived.

But wait, wedged in between all the other activity and glitz, while you were distracted by the colored lights, my favorites are the red and blue ones, a quiet little holiday slid right on by. 

Veteran’s Day happens so quietly and serenely that it almost goes unnoticed. A few locations make a big deal out of it, but it doesn’t get the all-star attention, or even the minor league attention that the others draw and yet if it wasn’t for what this one represents the others might not even exist. This quiet little holiday is one that should never be overlooked. We might not forget it intentionally, but it is sad when we finally remember it on January 2nd.

It is great to thank someone for their service, but it those who we cannot thank, whose hand we can’t grasp and shake, that demand our time and respect. Those who left this continent, promising their loved ones that they would return safe and sound, only to find out that was not in their control. They did their duty, they played their part, but destiny took over and the promise was broken. It is those who will be lost in time if we forget the little holiday that is wedged in between.

(P.S. I may have actually written this as a reminder to myself. Sometimes I miss things quite easily)

(Paul Richardson's column, The Horse I Rode In On, is published weekly in the Neosho Daily News, Seneca News-Dispatch, Aurora Advertiser and on the Turner Report.)

No comments:

Post a Comment