Today I received an unexpected day off. When my nanny mom gave me my schedule for the month, she marked off this day, Monday August 6, as a holiday. "A holiday?" I thought to myself. "What holiday can this be?" I racked my brains and could think of no significant national or religious events occurring, so I finally consulted the master of all holidays; my calendar. "Heritage Day?" I thought to myself, when I saw the name emblazoned in the little square. "What on earth is that?" I am told by those who know, (or at least claim to) that Heritage Day is a day to reflect on your personal history, and celebrate where you come from. Now that I hear it, it does sound like a good idea for a holiday, but let me ask you this, does anyone care? I'm guessing most people, like me instantly jumped for joy at the thought of a day off, and then looked around and said, "Wait a minute, what is it for?" So really, the purpose of Heritage Day is to give us a day off. The personal history stuff is just an excuse so we can all sleep in, or go golfing.
I recently reread the book, "The Giver," by Lois Lowry. For those who haven't read it, it's a book abut the future, where everything has gone to "Sameness." There are no different races, no religions, no war, and people are brought up in a strict community where they don't choose their own jobs, their own spouses, or really, anything. It's a good book, I recommend it to everyone, but my point is, at one part of the book there is an announcement given to the community that today is a holiday. There is no reason for the holiday, everyone in the community just gets a day off. No one questions it, no one wonders, "Hey, why don't we have to go to work today?" They just, accept. Actually they do that with everything in the book, but anyways, this spontaneous hloiday in "The Giver," is about the same as Heritage Day; there's no real point then to give us all a break. With that in mind; "Happy Heritage Day to all and to all a good golf game."
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