Hail to the Chiefs

Yesterday was Presidents’ Day in America. Other that it being a bank holiday and a snail mail-free day, I really don’t know what that means any more.

When folks my age were kids, we probably did study a lot of about the Presidents – especially Washington and Lincoln – this time of year. And maybe school kids still do that. Otherwise, the day offered online news services the opportunity to send out various Top 10 lists to mark the occasion.

For me, I guess, the holiday gives us the chance to pause and give a proverbial tip of the cap to the 44 individuals who have held the office. You can close your eyes and probably envision the same sort of timeline that ringed the bulletin board in my first grade class…of course…there were fewer than 44 then!

Personally, I spend a lot of time reading about Presidents. Always have. I’m just not sure that a lot of folks do the same.

If you were to examine one of the bookshelves in our study, you’d find it filled with a number of Presidential selections. For Christmas, I received a number of books and two, in particular focused on U.S. Presidents. I just finished reading JFK’s Last Hundred Days by Thurston Clarke. In my queue is The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Indeed, Theodore Roosevelt  may be my favorite of all 44.

I guess that is why I have a TR Bobblehead on the shelf.

I also have a prized collection of Presidential campaign buttons and a framed print featuring the recent Ronald Reagan stamp. 

As a family, we have visited the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta, the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, MO; the JFK Library in Boston and Sagamore Hill, the home of Theodore Roosevelt.

In an earlier blog, I told you about one of my biggest thrills which was the time my wife, sister and I met President George H.W. Bush in the White House. That stands out as one of the most amazing moments of timing, luck and happenstance in my life (rivaled, only, perhaps by the time Holly and Paul were able to meet U2’s Bono while I photographed the chance meeting out on West End Ave. in Nashville).

All this to say, I guess, I dig Presidents. I’m just not sure we really know what to do with theirday. Well…I guess the banks do.

To tie this up with a neat Coach Jeff’s Blog bow, what do we make of Presidents’ Day? Is it a holiday? Does it really matter anymore?

Maybe the most important factor is that Presidents’ Day gives elementary school teachers an opportunity to have a pre-programmed history lesson. Surely there is some value in that.

In a country whose citizens seem to have trouble with such rudimentary social science topics as civics, geography and history, any opportunity for some fun learning should be weighted greatly.

That is a point, I’m sure, that none of us would veto.

JG

Originally posted 2/18/2014