Presidents’ Day only comes around once a year. We need to work harder to bring this HOLIDAY to the forefront so that we can have the day off EVEN IF we don’t work for the USPS, the government, or the banks…
I mean, did anyone enjoy work today knowing that the government folks were out partying and celebrating the Commanders-in-Chief past & present? I didn’t think so! It was surely quiet and dull at the salt mine.
Let’s take to heart the wonderful truisms that 1st President George Washington had to allow (which he borrowed from some Jesuit teachings and later collected into a book) and see if we can turn our lives around:
“Every action in company ought to be done with some sign of respect to those that are present.”
and 14 more from the 1595 Jesuit pamphlet “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation” George reportedly took to heart and incorporated into his behavior and life:
1. Sleep not when others speak, sit not when others stand, speak not when you should hold your peace, walk not on when others stop.
2. Spit not into the fire, nor stoop low before it, neither put your hands into the flames to warm them, nor set your feet upon the fire, especially if there be meat before it.
3. Kill no vermin, as fleas, lice, ticks etc., in the sight of others. If you see any filth or thick spittle put your foot dexterously upon it, if it be upon the clothes of your companions put it off privately, and if it be upon your own clothes return thanks to him who puts it off.
4. Read no letters, books, or papers in company, but when there is a necessity for the doing of it you must ask leave. Come not near the books or writings of another so as to read them unless desired, or give your opinion of them unasked. Also look not nigh when another is writing a letter.
5. Let your countenance be pleasant but in serious matters somewhat grave.
6. Shew not yourself glad at the misfortune of another though he were your enemy.
7. To one that is your equal, or not much inferior, you are to give the chief place in your lodging, and he who ’tis offered ought at the first to refuse it, but at the second to accept though not without acknowledging his own unworthiness.
8. Mock not nor jest at anything of importance, break no jests that are sharp, biting, and if you deliver any thing witty and pleasant, abstain from laughing thereat yourself.
9. Let your conversation be without malice or envy, for ’tis a sign of tractable and commendable nature, and in all causes of passion permit reason to govern.
10. Speak not of doleful things in a time of mirth or at the table; speak not of melancholy things as death and wounds, and if others mention them, change if you can the discourse. Tell not your dreams, but to your intimate friend.
11. Be apt not to relate news if you know not the truth thereof. In discoursing of things you have heard name not your author. Always a secret discover not.
12. In company of those of higher quality than you, speak not till you are ask’d a question, then stand upright, put off your hat, and answer in few words.
13. Speak not evil of the absent for it is unjust.
14. Make no show of taking great delight in your victuals. Feed not with greediness. Eat your bread with a knife (i.e. cut it into small pieces), lean not on the table, neither find fault with what you eat.
Presidents are not all just about cherry trees! And not all just about George.
I say again, especially in this day and age, who would want the job? I looked at some pictures, actual photographs, of Abe Lincoln — the first photograph made of him as a younger man, he almost looks “cute”, a few years later and his face is starting to give way, even as “president-elect”, the wear is showing, and finally, deep into his presidency he is worn into the iconic ‘ugliness’ he was known for.
But not just Abe. Look at pix of any of the presidents (as available) and compare a picture on the 1st day of their presidency and then another one near the last and note what the weight of that office and its responsibilities has done.
Evolving face is an interest of mine as I’ve gathered family photos over the years. I have a little project of my own face starting from when I was a new baby through a number of years (I haven’t done one from each year of my life, but just snipping from some photos I’d saved digitally for other reasons).
It is peculiar to watch my “me-ness” play out. I remember each of those faces looking back at me from the mirror, but I can’t pinpoint when or why I stopped looking a certain way and began looking another. I know that in almost every picture (once I got to a certain age) I ‘hated’ the picture, thinking how terrible I looked, yet a couple of years later I would look back at it and wish I looked like THAT rather than the then-status quo.
Having a Mac computer I was able to take my little collection of “me”s and create a slideshow “movie” of “me” transitioning from that to this, etc. It is only of interest to me, but if nothing else it does remind me to like yourself in the day you are in because one day you’ll wish you could have ’stuck’ “here”.
I will say that I think I hit a personal worst a couple of years ago (not that many) and that I have improved incrementally since then. That encourages me not to give up TRYING to improve myself in every thing I am involved in, whether it is trying to slap down those hands of time or my internal conversations or my external interactions.
And, since I am not going to be President (even though that does come with a Day) — and don’t get any ideas: if nominated I will not run, if elected I will not serve — I stand a better chance than poor Abe and poor George (I refuse to let my lips disappear!) of not being totally worn out by the burden of my job.
p.s. Sparkling is still working. I don’t know how long we can keep the cycle going, but it does make things less brow-furrowing, and that falls in line with the paragraph immediately above 
Thank you for leaving me your thoughts!