Presidents Day?

You may not be old enough to remember, but "Presidents Day" didn't always exist!  When I was a young boy in school, we celebrated Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays in February.  I had always wondered why they had picked only those two Presidents to celebrate.  I mean, there were a lot of Presidents, but why single out only two?  And I thought it was wrong to not honor the sitting President's birthday.  I understood that Washington should be singled out, with special accolades, because he was the first nationally elected President of the United States.  And I knew that Lincoln was credited with saving our country during a terrible Civil War.  But I couldn't help but think maybe too much was made of that - afterall, we had other terrible wars since that time and surely the Presidents who served during those should be honored as well. 

So someone else got to thinking about the matter as well.  They passed a bill in Congress to change the celebration days and then they changed the dates and well, then things really got out of hand!  Just take a look at the explanation given here:  http://www.snopes.com/holidays/presidents/presidentsday/

Now the significance of the day has eroded into just another day off from work!  It's just another extended weekend in which to be self-indulgant.  At least, when I was in school, as the days approached in February, we would take time to study some of the history about Lincoln and Washington!  Now - the school children would be hard-pressed to tell you anything about any President!  And then it becomes all too easy to rewrite history!  If we lose track of what made our country strong, we shall not be able to keep it strong!  The "Beacon of Freedom" will be snuffed out!  There's an old saying, "If you don't know what you stand for, you'll fall for anything!"  It makes me wonder if the inmates aren't in charge of the asylum!

Your comments are welcomed.
The Old Man in the Bib Overalls