Here we are with back to back holidays of Valentine's Day and President's Day and a post by our own Duchesse on repurposing V-Day which is certainly an interesting idea.
She leaves us with this excellent suggestion
Not everyone has a family where love abounds. But everyone needs love, and why not stop for a day to connect with love in all its forms, from the altruistic to sensual? Sure beats celebrating presidents, pilgrims or Queen Victoria.
But I politely disagreed in her comments section on pilgrims and here I'm going to disagree on presidents.
Way back in ancient history, otherwise known as my childhood, we had a holiday for Washington's birthday. Years later this holiday celebrating the father of our country morphed into the catch all President's Day.
Well I for one don't think that we need to celebrate Presidents in general, but George Washington is certainly an exceptional man and his life is worthy of our celebration.
Washington Crossing The Delaware by Emanuel Leutze
1776 by David McCulloughI'm not going to go into a long dissertation here but I want to point out that Washington was a brilliant commander who successfully fought the far superior British forces and won. He then ushered in the office of the Presidency and then humbly stepped aside.
Unlike Napoleon, who crowned himself Emperor and drank his own kool-aid to the detriment of France and the greater Europe, Washington remained true to the idea of American representative government and individual liberty.
He was a truly great man and a snappy dresser too! If you haven't read 1776 I recommend that you do.
