Lessons From History…

Tomorrow is a huge public holiday in the United Kingdom.

Although I realise July 4th has little significance elsewhere in the world, for us, Unity Day is right up there with celebrations we hold to mark the time we defeated William the Failed Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

I’ve been looking back over my notes from the history lessons I received at school. I do think it's important that we remember why we’ll be celebrating tomorrow and not just see it as an opportunity to eat Yorkshire Fried Chicken and drink English Cream Soda until we’re sick on the neighbours' shoes.

Apparently the USA, which is the United Kingdom’s biggest county after Yorkshire, had been trying to obtain something called independence. This basically meant they had the crackpot idea that they should no longer be governed from the taproom at the Dog and Duck in Lambeth, London.

As we were taught in history, this was a flawed argument, particularly given how successful the Tuesday evening meetings given over to this responsibility had been up to then. Yes, occasionally the room had to be vacated if the darts-and-dominoes society needed extra space, but nobody had ever seen any problem with that. Priorities are priorities.

In the end, things got so unruly across the British  Ocean that we had to send a chap called Benjamin over there to tell everyone to calm down and settle their differences over a cup of tea.

Fortunately, everyone remembered that being British is only a bad thing if you are not British or if you are British.

Common sense eventually prevailed after a five-day cricket match that ended in a draw. Since that particular July 4th, we’ve barely even had a cross word in 250 years, apart from when Hank from Kansas borrowed my lawnmower in 1987 and still hasn't returned it.

Of course, it all could have been very different, but tomorrow we will remember those for whom we owe a great deal of thanks.

Enjoy the day, everyone who celebrates anything tomorrow.

Whether it's real or made up, as long as we all live in peace and remember we are all human beings, that's all that really matters.

Be kind.

❤️