On the drive home from work yesterday, I was informed by a hyper cheerful radio host that October is Squirrel Awareness Month. My immediate reaction was, what an incredibly useless piece of information that is! I won’t hate squirrels any less this month, nor will I take any extra precaution not to hit them- not that I do so frequently. Upon further research I discovered that October is also Emotional Intelligence and Wellness Month (sure to excite the men of the world), Long Term Care Planning Month (I started considering mine yesterday), Raptor Month (pardon me?), and National Church Security Month (as if the church doesn’t have bigger problems at the moment).
I’m not the biggest fan of random daily and monthly observances in general. Key word there is random. I see the value of Remembrance Day, Black History Month and the December 6th commemoration of the Montreal Massacre victims. Those are all topics worthy of pause. But International Squirrel Month?! Really? The squirrels aren’t even aware that it’s their month!
My disdain for obscure monthly celebrations stems from an experience I had a few years ago on a day designed to celebrate the existence of the cookie. It was a rainy day when I walked into the Queen’s library lobby and was immediately stunned by the scent of freshly baked cookies. I followed my nose to a corner of the lobby covered in Sodexho posters advertising ‘National Cookie Day’ accompanied by the slogan ‘Have a free cookie- courtesy of Sodexho!’ I could not believe my luck. A free cookie?! For me, that was (and still is) on par with finding cash on the ground! I sat on the ledge directly across from a Sodexho employee, complete in freshly-pressed uniform, who was holding a tray of cookies. Now I didn’t want to approach her for fear she might say, “They’re a dollar each,” or something like that. My embarrassing response would’ve consisted of “I don’t have a dollar.” So, there I sat, staring at her with one of those “I want you to approach me and then I’ll act surprised and grateful” smiles, the kind you use at Costco when you approach one of the many sampling stations acting like you’re surprised it’s there when really it was your prime motivation for coming. She just stared back. I was not being coy here; I was three feet away from her and I obviously wanted what she had! But nothing. After five minutes of the stare-fest, it was time for me to catch the bus. I left the library, cookieless and fuming. So much for enjoying a cookie on National Cookie Day.
I’m not the biggest fan of random daily and monthly observances in general. Key word there is random. I see the value of Remembrance Day, Black History Month and the December 6th commemoration of the Montreal Massacre victims. Those are all topics worthy of pause. But International Squirrel Month?! Really? The squirrels aren’t even aware that it’s their month!
My disdain for obscure monthly celebrations stems from an experience I had a few years ago on a day designed to celebrate the existence of the cookie. It was a rainy day when I walked into the Queen’s library lobby and was immediately stunned by the scent of freshly baked cookies. I followed my nose to a corner of the lobby covered in Sodexho posters advertising ‘National Cookie Day’ accompanied by the slogan ‘Have a free cookie- courtesy of Sodexho!’ I could not believe my luck. A free cookie?! For me, that was (and still is) on par with finding cash on the ground! I sat on the ledge directly across from a Sodexho employee, complete in freshly-pressed uniform, who was holding a tray of cookies. Now I didn’t want to approach her for fear she might say, “They’re a dollar each,” or something like that. My embarrassing response would’ve consisted of “I don’t have a dollar.” So, there I sat, staring at her with one of those “I want you to approach me and then I’ll act surprised and grateful” smiles, the kind you use at Costco when you approach one of the many sampling stations acting like you’re surprised it’s there when really it was your prime motivation for coming. She just stared back. I was not being coy here; I was three feet away from her and I obviously wanted what she had! But nothing. After five minutes of the stare-fest, it was time for me to catch the bus. I left the library, cookieless and fuming. So much for enjoying a cookie on National Cookie Day.
I agree i think it takes away from the importance of having a monthly celebration.
ReplyDeleteSo that's why there are so many damn squirrels running around these days. They're all hiding their little nuts for their annual celebratory month.
ReplyDelete