Patriot(s, s’,’s) Day.. or is it?

There’s only a handful of holidays I get worked up over…Independence Day, my birthday, Valentine’s Day, Paratus, and one or two others. And then there’s Patriot’s Day…the moveable feast of the political right.

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Maybe someone really said this. Maybe not. But the sentiment certainly seems apropos.

First, there’s a bit of ambiguity about the name..is it Patriot’s Day, Patriots Day, or Patriots’ Day? I go with Patriot’s Day. You can figure out which punctuation rings your (liberty) bell. It most certainly is notPatriot Day‘ which is, I think, a holiday in poor taste sinceĀ  we already have a holiday with that name and ‘re-using’ it is patently disrespectful to the original holiday.

Then there’s the date. To me, Patriot’s Day is April 19. Why? Because that’s when the shooting started. The notion of making it the third Monday of April, regardless of date, for the purpose of creating a three day weekend is abhorrent to me. You make a holiday to remember and act upon a historical event. You don’t make it for the sake of getting a three-day weekend. *

Folks are calling today Patriot’s Day but I’m going to be a stickler….orthodox, if you will…and say that Patriot’s Day is April 19. Period.

* = Having said that, yes, Paratus is a moveable holiday. BUT..Paratus was designed from the get-go to be held on a Friday so you could have a weekend to play with your Paratus gifts. I do not find this inconsistent with my attitude about re-arranging historical holidays to fit modern demands for three-day weekends.

 

5 thoughts on “Patriot(s, s’,’s) Day.. or is it?

  1. I call it Patriots’ Day. Plural possessive.

    On a loosely-related note, I really dislike the idea of glorifying what happened at the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, as does the recent movie “Patriots Day.” For hours after the bombing, the city basically enforced martial law on its disarmed and helpless citizens, who cowered in fear in their homes while police roamed the streets and kicked in doors without provocation or reasonable suspicion. Not a proud moment for anyone who favors self-reliance and civil liberties. “Boston Strong” indeed.

    • While I agree that the suspension of civil liberties was appalling, the ensuing manhunt would have been a disaster. As liberal a state as Massachusetts is, I know several people who would have been out hunting for the culprits, which as Muslim terrorists, would have resulted in some serious incidents akin to what we are seeing nowadays in Kansas et al. While the AG here may be a gun grabbing liberal, I assure you that as the birthplace of the American revolution there are many who hold liberty quite dearly and haven’t moved to New Hampshire, yet.

  2. I couldn’t not comment re-the caption to the picture.
    If you grok the sentiment, get to an Appleseed event. April 19th, 1775, where marksmanship met history, and the heritage began… Captain John Parker did indeed say that (as well as “I will shoot down any man who offers to run”) on Lexington Green as the Regulars and Royal Marines marched up to face his men of the Lexington Training Band.

  3. I’ve given up on Valentine’s Day. In the bad tail end of my marriage it was a mess. Pretend there is something that isn’t with romantic declarations and acts for a day.

    Single it might as well be called get drunk alone and maybe cry day. Last year I got dumped like a couple days before. This year I wasn’t a winny bitch but I wouldn’t call drinking whisky and watching tv alone a special day.

  4. I know what holiday April 19 is for a large part of America: It’s the day social security pays for about a third of those retired. Embrace the suck!

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