I honestly think that the holiday situation is getting ridiculous. I mean, I benefited from the time off at public school as a kid, and I am in favor of paid time off on principle, but... we're kind of suffering right now, and our state government really thinks that they should get a day off?
The primary argument that the legislators use is that Evacuation Day isn't a "hack" holiday, that it's a real holiday that celebrates our American Revolution.
'“I think it’s important to carry on the traditions that ultimately created this great country that we live in,” said state Sen. John Hart (D-South Boston), at a State House hearing.'1
Yeah, OK, Senator. This from the guy that hosts the St. Patrick's Day Breakfast every year. Fact is, this has never been about Evacuation Day. I've lived here my whole life, and I don't even know how to honor the Day. I don't wave bye-bye at Brits or anything! As I noted this morning, Governor Saltonstall even used green ink to sign this holiday into law.2 March 17th has never been about celebrating Evacuation Day. It's always been an excuse to get St. Patrick's Day off.
The secondary motive is positioning. Basically, March and June don't have other holidays. That's true, but... unfair. March is sandwiched by February, which has Presidents Day, and April, which has Patriots Day and Good Friday. June is an even weaker argument because you celebrate Memorial Day right before June starts, and Independence Day right after June ends. And it's not like they're the only damn months without holidays, either. I suppose there wasn't a good excuse to make an August holiday, though, huh?
There's really no solid argument that can be put forth by supporters of the two holidays because the real reason Sen. Hart wants to keep the holiday is because he gets the day off. I think that's it, plain and simple. But Hart being Irish and the holiday being on St. Patrick's Day doesn't look good.
I'm not a bad man who hates fun. In better days, I'd let the holidays stand. But people are hurting, and the legislature taking a day off when their constituents have to work (if the constituents have jobs!) is just rubbing salt in the wounds.
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[1] Van Slack, Jessica. "Solons fight to keep holidays." The Boston Herald. March 3, 2010.[back to text]
[2] McNicholas, Kevin and Shaw, David. "With a signature in green, St. Patrick's Day becomes a holiday." WBUR. March 12, 2010.[back to text]
Photo is from Wikimedia under the Creative Commons license.
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