On This Day: March 8th … Strange Holidays
National Proofreading Day
International (Working) Women’s Day
National Peanut Cluster Day
Be Nasty Day
The first one should be a no-brainer for all of us. We all make typo’s. It’s a given because our hand moves faster than the brain can keep up with. We are so eager to write something to please people with, we tend to forget that we are not “mistake proof.”
And if you like your peanuts mixed with chocolate and somewhat salty, then hop, run, walk, or drive to the grocery store and get yourself some.
With that said, there are two here I want to focus on.
International (Working) Women’s Day
International Women's Day is sponsored worldwide by the United Nations. However, the UN did not originate this special celebration. The roots of this celebration goes back to the late 1800's and early 1900s. It grew from women's socialist movements and early women's trade union groups.
The first International Women's Day was held March 19, 1911. Women socialists and trade unions held an earlier Women's Day on the last Sunday in February 1908. The event grew from there, and has been celebrated annually since. The focus is upon women workers, and advancing women's rights in the workforce, politics, and society.
The seeds of this day were planted in 1908, when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter working hours, better pay and the right to vote. It was the Socialist Party of America who declared the first National Woman's Day, a year later.
The idea to make the day international came from a woman called Clara Zetkin. She suggested the idea in 1910 at an International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen. There were 100 women there, from 17 countries, and they agreed on her suggestion unanimously.
It was first celebrated in 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. The centenary was celebrated in 2011, so this year we're technically celebrating the 110th International Women's Day.
Things were made official in 1975 when the United Nations started celebrating the day. The first theme adopted by the UN (in 1996) was "Celebrating the past, Planning for the Future."
"Just believe in yourself. Even if you don't, pretend that you do,
and at some point, you will."—Venus Williams
Be Nasty Day
Who in their right mind would make this a holiday?
The word "nasty" has a few meanings, but in this context, it is referring to being rude, mean, spiteful, or difficult to be around. On this day everyone has an excuse to be nasty by displaying these attributes to others in both word and action. It is not known who created this day, but it is fairly obvious, who ever it was, was not having a good day.
If you choose to (and I hope you don’t), you can celebrate (and for this write, I use that word loosely) the day by being nasty to others. Call them names and insult them. Cut in front of them in line. If you have things you really feel about people but have been holding back, today is the day to say them. Hang up on people who call you. Ignore messages you receive online, and ignore your friends and family. There are tons of ways to be nasty today.
In recent weeks, we have seen and heard the nastiness of many Americans and it has hurt me to the core, that fellow Americans have to incite riots, hate groups and the like to express their views—if you can call them that. Though the man has been dead for a number of years, there were words he uttered that come back to me with times like this.
“Can’t we all just get along?”—Rodney King.
"God does not require you to succeed. He only requires you to try."—Mother Teresa
An evil man is ensnared by the transgression of his lips, but the righteous escapes from trouble. From the fruit of his mouth a man is satisfied with good, and the work of a man's hand comes back to him. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult. Whoever speaks the truth gives honest evidence, but a false witness utters deceit.—Proverbs 12: 13-23
Let him who is without sin cast the first stone—John 8: 7
More strange holidays are coming!