Here again, I find myself thinking about a national observance in the United States and thinking back about what I have said about it before. (I do that a lot, as those who have read me at any length can attest. One of the better things about such informal publication as I get to have is that I have the luxury of building on ideas over time, something that more formal venues do not always allow or encourage.) There’s been a lot of change in the year since I wrote on the topic, so much that it’s often hard to track; even the more limited set of changes that I address in my primary line of work take a lot of doing to keep abreast of, and I rarely have time to look much further afield than that.

Some of that, of course, may be ascribed to my personal limitations. I am the man I am, trained as I have been trained and scrambling to adapt to what presents itself to me, both in the day job and outside it; there are things at which I know to look and things I don’t know I need to look at, even if they do bear in on me. I’m not disclaiming my responsibilities in this; I acknowledge my limitations.

That much noted, I find myself once again of mixed mind regarding the observance. It’s not just this observance, of course; I have a long-running unease with such things, being not much of a celebratory person. While it is the case that I do have an appreciation for ceremony and pageantry, it is also the case that I like to watch it from a distance rather than to be immersed in it; I’d rather quietly observe than participate. (I suppose so much is true for a lot of things in my life, for better or worse.) At present, I am in the middle of my busy season; that I am makes it hard to pay attention to things that are not right in front of me. (There is some wiggle room in “in front of me,” as might be imagined. But some isn’t a whole lot, and it’s certainly not all.) At most, this time, there’s a slight variation in the course of my week due to the federal holiday; things being closed that are does force some adaptation. But it’s only some; for the most part, I have to go on like it’s any other day.

I doubt I’m the only one for whom so much is true.

For a holiday, or for another day, I am happy to write for you!

Or you can send your support along directly!