Today is Washington's Birthday,* one of those several days in the year that somebody decided, back in 1968 (with effect from 1971), should always fall on a Monday. I know three-day weekends are popular, but personally, I join the women of Dogpatch in calling on Uncle Sam to "put 'em back the way they was."
I'm enough of a traditionalist to think that when we want to remember an occasion in the past, it's more meaningful if we do it on a specific date. To do otherwise is to imply that the occasion is not important, it's just a good excuse for a day off (and usually, big sales on mattresses or furniture). In addition, these three-day weekends take a big toll on productivity even though many employers do not observe all of them. Workers crowd five days' work/orders/reports/services into four, and two key elements of a smooth-running modern economy -- delivery systems and financial systems -- are almost always shut down for three days running.
So my schedule for these days would look like this:
January 15 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
February 22 - Washington's Birthday. * Interesting fact: this is still the official title of this day; many people have come to call it Presidents' Day, which is OK, but why not make it Civic Day, or Constitution Day?
May 30 - Memorial Day. This began as a memorial to Civil War dead but not many of us seem to remember that, and it seems a wee bit outdated. Fortunately, at some point it transmogrified into remembrance of our own family members; let's keep that meaning, and maybe call it Remembrance Day, or Ancestors Day.
September ?? - Labor Day. Another fact - are you old enough to remember that Labor Day was always on Monday - the first Monday of September? Actually, it was the model for the other Monday holidays, and in this case, there is a reason it should be Monday, as a day off work for workers. So, why not leave it that way.
October 12 - Columbus Day. Until 1968 this was not an official holiday at all.
November 11 - Veterans Day. They tried to make this a Monday holiday, but Veterans groups, as I recall, protested, and (after about 7 years) it was moved back to its fixed date of November 11.
So, by rescheduling, we get more productivity and a more meaningful commemoration. When a holiday does fall on a Monday, we'll value it more highly. What more could anyone ask? Well...now that I mention it, these changes would make a lot of sense but there are other ways we should modernize our schedule of days off, which I'll discuss in Part II.
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