On This Day: July 11th … Strange Holidays
National Cheer Up The Lonely Day
All American Pet Photo Day
World Population Day
Oh my—another three-banger. I’m starting to feel like this is a vacation. Okay, let me get started.
All American Pet Photo Day
Pets are celebrated today by having their pictures taken. Over half of American households have pets, making it easy for the day to be celebrated. Dogs and cats are the most popular pets, but those who have fish, hamsters, guinea pigs, turtles, lizards, and other pets can also participate. After pictures of pets are taken, they are often shared online.
Celebrate the day by taking pictures of your pet(s). The photos could be candid—of them playing or sleeping—or could be planned out in advance. Since it is "All American" Pet Photo Day and the 4th of July just took place, you could dress your pet up in a patriotic costume. There are many things you could do with the photos, but perhaps the best thing to do would be to share them online. If you don't have a pet, make sure to remind your friends who have pets what the day is, and keep a lookout for pictures of pets.
So dress them up, give them some flair, this is after all, their day to smile for the camera—or slobber all over the place.
World Population Day
Stand up and be counted, as today is World Population Day. This special United Nations day evolved from Five Billion Day. That's the day the world's population was estimated to reach five billion people.
How many people does the planet hold?
The population of the world has increased steadily since the Medieval times. With an ever growing world population, people became interested in "Five Billion Day" on July 11, 1987. This is the approximate date when the world's population reached five billion people. This sparked the creation of World Population Day. But the population growth story does not peak there. According to the United Nations Population Fund, there was an estimated 7.75 billion people in December, 2019. The World Population Clock shows there are over 330 million people in the United States. The U.S. is the third most populous country in the world, behind China ( 1.436 billions) and India (1.372 billion).
It is estimated that the world's population could reach 9.7 billion people by 2050, and over 11 billion by 2100. With that many of us, one wonders if this population level is sustainable? The answer quite frankly—no one know.
With all the issues related to these billions upon billions of people, World Population Day was established to raise awareness of global population issues. The United Nations seeks to promote awareness of issues related to population growth, including the importance of family planning, gender equality, poverty, maternal health, and human rights.
Population Day is sponsored by the United Nations World Population Fund (UNFPA). According to the UNFPA website, the focus of this day is upon people under 25 and those at reproductive age. This day seeks to provide education and awareness to reproductive health, reproductive choice, family planning, and to provide a better future for young people.
This is a link to the United States and The World when it comes to population growth, and you will see numbers moving to indicate new births.
https://www.census.gov/popclock/
This is where things were at when I put this together, and haven't looked since. What changes do you see?
United States: 332, 505, 359
The World: 7, 774, 840, 750 and still counting.
"Work is accomplished by those employees
who have not yet reached their level of incompetence."—Laurence J. Peter
National Cheer Up The Lonely Day
This an opportunity to make a lonely person happy. Any time you can make someone happy, you've done a good thing, and should be proud of yourself.
Lonely people have few friends and loved ones. They may have lost loved ones over the years. They may be elderly. They see people on an infrequent basis.
Spend some time today cheering up lonely people. It's easy to do; just spend some time with them. When you visit, bring happy things to talk about. Keep the conversation upbeat, and lively. When you leave, give a big hug, and let them know you enjoyed the stay. Sending cards or making a phone call is okay, only if they live too far away to visit.
What a lonely person really needs is: face to face time with other people.
According to L.J. Pesek, Cheer Up the Lonely Day was created by her father, Francis Pesek from Detroit, Michigan. She told us that he "was a quiet, kind, wonderful man who had a heart of gold. He got the idea as a way of promoting kindness toward others who were lonely or forgotten as shut-ins or in nursing homes with no relatives or friends to look in on them." Francis Pesek chose this day because it was his birthday.
"The ability to speak in several languages is an asset,
but the ability to keep your mouth shut in any language is priceless."—Author Unknown
More Strange Holidays Coming!