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Today: Why is it this writer's favorite day of the year?
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At an event I recently attended, as an icebreaker we were asked to indicate what our favorite day of the year is. Most of the answers were the usual ones -- Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc. The answer I gave, though, left some of those in attendance puzzled. I stated that today is always my favorite day. That takes a little unpacking. As a child, I could hardly wait for Christmas and other big days to come. Seeing my impatience, someone (I no longer remember exactly who it was, though it might have been one of my aunts) said to me, "Don't wish your life away." That caught my attention. I also think of my paternal grandfather, who lived until he was in his late 80s. He was profoundly thankful for each day, rejoicing in the wonderful gift of life. That is why each day is so special. Life is a wonderful gift that God has given us, a gift to be treasured and preserved. A gift in which we ought to rejoice each and every day. There was a time when I found tasks such as peeling fence posts (the task on the farm I least enjoyed) onerous and could hardly wait to be finished with them. But those days are far behind me. As did my grandfather, I rejoice in the gift of life each day. Perhaps that is a function of being two-thirds of a century old and seeing obituaries in the paper each day for people who were younger than I am. (My hope is that my picture won't move from this side of the page to the other side anytime soon.) Saying that we ought to rejoice in the gift of life each day does not imply that nothing ever goes wrong. Things go wrong all the time. Take, for example, the ice and snowstorm we had a week ago. When I went to my car to go home at 10:15 p.m. after having put in a 14-hour day on campus, all four of my car doors were frozen shut, which was not cause for rejoicing. There was a time when, like many people, I would get stressed out if something went wrong. But as the years have gone by, I find that I am more and more like Red Green on the PBS show that my wife loves (hopefully not because it reminds her of me). Nothing ever fazes Red Green. That's a good trait to have. The parallel, however, ends at this point. Red Green would have cheerfully bashed the door with a sledge hammer until it opened and then put the pieces back together again with duct tape. I didn't happen to have a sledge hammer or duct tape with me. But I did have access to hot water. It took me nearly an hour to get the door on the driver's side thawed out enough to open it. Once that was accomplished, I started up the car, chiseled the ice from the windshield and drove home, pleased that I had handled this inconvenient little situation with such equanimity. Perhaps it was because I was so pleased with the equanimity with which I handled the frozen door situation that I forgot to turn off the headlights when I parked my car the next day. As cold as it was, it took less than three hours for the battery to run down. They invented battery chargers for a reason, however. I called my wife, who stopped by to pick me up and take me home so that I could get my battery charger and a long extension cord. By the time I was ready to go home at 9:30 p.m. that evening, the battery was fully charged and everything was just fine. Yes, things sometimes go wrong. Yet each and every day is precious. That's what makes each day my favorite day of the year. Dan Lee teaches ethics at Augustana College; danlee@augustana.edu. 
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East moline, IL Details |
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Today is Monday, May 20, the 140th day of 2013. There are 225 days left in the year.
1863 -- 150 years ago: A petition is being circulated asking the city council to order awell bored in Market Square. It would be a great accommodation to the public.
1888 -- 125 years ago: At 1 p.m. on May 18 the Mississippi River flooded its banks atRock Island and destroyed the warehouse of the Rock Island Lumber Co. and damagedRock Island Arsenal power plant. Total loss is estimated at $100,000.
1913 -- 100 years ago: Residents of Sough Rock Island Township are circulating apetition favoring the annexation of that area to the City of Rock Island.
1938 -- 75 years ago: A group of state members of the National Grandmothers Clubmeeting in Rock Island are making plans to petition for the observance of a NationalGrandmothers Day.
1963 -- 50 years ago: Deere and Co. reported today that its U.S. and Canadian sales forthe first half of the 1963 fiscal year set an all time record of $323,716.628.
1988 -- 25 years ago: William G. Lawrence, first administrative director, has retired fromPECO Enterprises, Inc. Prior to his service at PECO, Mr. Lawrence was the civilianpersonnel officer at the Rock Island Arsenal.
(More History)