Thursday, April 24, 2014

Ridley's Believe It Or Not-This Day In History April 24, 2014 Genocide Remembrance Day

Ridley's Believe It Or Not--April 24, 2014  Today’s quote is really worth reading and a call to action not to be a bystander.  As always, after some searching, I found these holidays, some unknown but worthy of mention or celebrating in a culinary fashion, to go with the factoids and quote to enjoy.
             1. World Day for Laboratory Animals--established by the National Anti-Vivisectionist Society in 1979 to protest the use of lab animals in drug and cosmetic development trials.
             2. Genocide Remembrance Day—observed in Armenia and Armenian communities around the world to call attention to the genocide of thousands of Armenians by Turkey which commenced on this day in 1915; sadly not the first case of genocide and even sadder, not the last.
              3. National Teach Your Children To Save Day—what a great concept as the children of today may face a world in which Social Security and Medicare are bankrupt when or if they can retire; actually the day could be enhanced if with over $17 trillion in national debt and climbing, we added the President and the gang of 535 in Congress to the people who really need to be taught to save today and each day they remain in office.
              4. National Poetry Month—this is an observance given the power of poetry to move, inspire, encourage, emote, etc. that should be celebrated daily; apologies for not picking this holiday up to post on April 1. 
              5. National Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day--how good can it be attending a party with one of these snacks in one hand and a libation in the other, knowing you will not spill your snack on the host’s carpet.
 On this day in:
                a. 1184 B.C. for those college football fans that detest the USC Trojans, the city of Troy fell to the Greeks, forever implanting in the English language the term “Trojan Horse” and the phrase “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.”
                b. 1923 in Vienna Sigmund Freud published his paper Das Ich und das Es, outlining his theory of the ego, id and superego.
                c. 2005 the Snuppy, cloned from a cell from the ear of an Afghan hound, became the world’s first cloned dog, giving yet more credence to the fact that love in marriages may come and go, but the love of man’s best friend can last forever, particularly if you clone Fido.
 History has an uncanny knack for repeating itself, including the stain of genocide when too many people are mere bystanders: “As for the sanctimony of people who seem blind to the fact that mass murder is still an annual event, look at Cambodia, Rwanda, Darfur, Tibet, Burma and elsewhere-the truer shout is not "Never again" but "Again and again.” Paul Theroux, noted American travel writer and novelist and author of Ghost Train to the Eastern Star Sadly, the list of nations where genocide has existed or continues to exist and like the Duracell Rabbit keeps on beating the genocidal drum—Serbia, Central African Republic, Syria, Congo, et al.
 Please enjoy the 140 character poems on events of interest on my twitter account below (if you like them, retweet and join almost 140 growing followers and please follow me) and follow my blogs. Always good, incisive and entertaining poems on my blogs--click on links below. www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com for poems on the Mustangs going to the Dance with a losing record; to honor Cindy Abbott, a half blind 54 year old mother suffering from a rare disease who competed in last year's Iditarod until forced out with a broken pelvis after 600 miles; on Bode Miller and the human spirit; for Cupid on Valentine's Day; to honor Cory Remsburg to join a great collection of my poems to inspire, touch, emote, elate and enjoy. Go to Rhymes On The Newsworthy Times for poems on the futility of aiding Ukraine with MRE’s; the cowardice of the Korean ferry boat captain abandoning his ship while over 300 students were being drowned; the Overland Park shootings; the stupidity of Caprock Academy trying to ban a nine year old for shaving her head to provide support for her 11 year old friend undergoing chemo; Putin pulling the Moscow broadcast plug on Voice of America; Obama's "sanctions" compared to Rolling Thunder 49 years ago; the banning the wearing of the American flag on Cinco de Mayo to join numerous other comments on news events always in rhyme of course.
©April 24, 2014 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

 

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