EDITORIAL – We could do without so many ridiculous ‘national days’

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

HAPPY CHAOS NEVER DIES DAY.

I know, you’re probably thinking — “I didn’t even know it was Chaos Never Dies Day. I was concentrating on British Pudding Day.”

Well, today is both of those things. It’s also Peanut Butter Lovers Month and Pomegranate Month.

And get ready for Sesame Street Day and Vanilla Cupcake Day tomorrow. By the end of the week, we’ll be exhausted from celebrating Chicken Soup Day, National Pickle Day and Fancy Rat and Mouse Day.

Unfortunately, they compete with the genuine special days. Remembrance Day is the same day as Origami Day, Sundae Day, Singles Day and Social Enterprise Day.

There is not a food, disease, human emotion, cause, event or product that doesn’t have its own day. A great many are the inventions of marketers flogging goods and services. As if they don’t have enough real holidays and national days to commercialize, they have to invent more.

National Drive-Thru Day and National Coffee Day are among them. How about National Underwear Day? Yes, we have one of those.

Some might be proclaimed by a town council somewhere but more likely it’s just a corporation with an ad campaign. We call them holidays but they’re just labels.

There’s no central authority in Canada for proclaiming every-day national days so it’s easy enough to make one up unofficially and advertise it. Of course, there are legitimate days recognized through legislation, such as Canadian Forces Day and National Autism Day and national holidays such as Canada Day and Victoria Day.

Most of the rest are just for fun or money and, while their silliness is sometimes good for a chuckle, they distract us from the ones that build awareness of things that are actually important.

That is, if we let them. Today, Chaos Never Dies Day, we’re supposed to do things to de-stress. How about we begin by ignoring yet another phony-baloney “national” day?

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.