One of the Salisbury Post regular writers gave his reasons for not celebrating Juneteenth and Independence Day.

I’m gonna write about two more days, which neither one is a federal holiday, but maybe they should be.

My sister was doing the family tree for a school project and she asked Grandpa Harwood where our ancestors came from. He said, “Albemarle.”

In this story it don’t matter if you’re African American, Albemarle American, Apache American, Asian American, Appalachian American or live in Arkansas. It’s about being an Awareness American.

That brings me to the first Awareness Day. It’s about a very special lady and her birthday is celebrated on April 22. She is also a very beautiful lady and should be honored and respected 8 days a week and not just one day a year.

If we could all do our part, there wouldn’t be any trash in the ditches, balloons in the trees and creeks, and cig-a-butts covering the ground everywhere and certainly no sac-o-hockee planted in parking lots. The day is Earth Day.

Chief Joseph said, “The earth is the mother of all people and all people have equal rights upon it.”

On the lighter side – Did you hear about the ole boy from Landis that wanted to start a recycling company for chewing gum? He said it was hard to get off the ground.

Here’s one from my grandson, Jake. Why shouldn’t you give Elsa a balloon? Because, she’ll just “Let It Go.”

For the second Awareness Day, I’ll have to go back to the 90’s. My sister’s cousin, (let’s call him S.C.) liked to watch Jeopardy and so did I. We would play the final question over the phone. One evening the question was – “Of all the federal holidays, this one is least celebrated.”

I thought I had the right answer, so I called S.C. up. Did you notice I didn’t reach out? When he answered I said, “President’s Day.”   He said, “Hey, I’m goin’ with Arbor Day.” “What did you just say?” I asked him. S.C. said, “I’m going with Arbor Day.” “Look, you nut, Arbor Day ain’t no federal holiday.” And he said, “Yeah, but I don’t know anybody that celebrates it.”

If you want to celebrate Arbor Day it’s on the last Friday of April. But, just like Earth Day, you can celebrate it any time.

Here goes a little riddle my nephew, Jason, told me many moons ago. “How can you identify a dogwood tree in the winter time? By its bark.”

This one’s from a friend in Matthews. “Why was the pine tree put in time out? Because it was being knotty.”

So when you have the choice to sit it out or celebrate Earth Day, I hope you celebrate.

And when you have the choice to sit it out or celebrate Arbor Day, I hope you celebrate.

If you have the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance. Unless you’re a Baptist, then I hope you sit it out and recycle your beer cans.

By the way, the correct answer was, “What is Columbus Day?”

 

Whitey Harwood lives in  Rowan County.