Monday, January 20, 2025

A Special Day

 
by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Today is Monday, January 20th, 2025, a day on which we officially celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, a man who devoted his life to the advancement of peace and equal rights for all.  Dr. King was a Baptist minister who not only talked the talk, eloquently, but also stood tall and proud and joined hands with Americans of all ethnicities and social strata as he walked the walk.

Dr. King's day is the first federal holiday of the year, and it provides our nation's federal employees with a much needed day off, and that is particularly important to the ones who whose work takes them outside during the frigid days of January.   (It was 4 degrees F in West Plains this morning!) 

One of those hearty souls is the lady who faithfully carries the mail to my mailbox throughout the year on every day but Sundays and federal holidays.  Not only does she deliver the mail and pick up correspondence that I leave in the mailbox out by the road, but on days when I receive a package that is too large for the mailbox or something that requires a signature, she brings those items to my front door for a personal handoff - and when she does she always has a sweet word or two for Rosie, who barks at her like she is a home invader nonetheless.  The same woman has been running my route for years and is a true jewel in the crown of the US Postal Service.  Shame on me for not even knowing her name.

So I wish postal service workers everywhere across the nation a wonderful day off!

(I carried the mail briefly, on a part-time basis, back in the 1970's.  Those were the bad old days when Sears, Roebuck and Company and Montgomery Ward still sent out their massive catalogues, and the nation's primary phone company mailed enormous telephone directories that could double as doorstops to millions of households each year!  We earned our government salary on the days catalogues and telephone directories arrived - you betcha we did!)

But I know from experience that my mail carrier will roll up her sleeves and carry whatever oddball thing I order over the internet - straight to my door - with a smile on her face and some cheery words for Rosie!  I hope that she has a wonderful day off today!

And my same good wishes go to government workers everywhere, a much-maligned group of individuals who put themselves and their families at risk for providing basic essential government services to Americans everywhere while suffering the rampaging demagoguery of fools and charlatans.  Thank you for paying my medical bills, getting my social security retirement check to the bank, maintaining the highways that I travel on to visit my grandchildren, Amtrak, the flight controllers who keep the planes in the air, enforcing environmental regulations to keep us safe, public broadcasting, educating my grandchildren, police and military protection, and so much more.

I will miss not getting any mail today, but it is a small sacrifice compared to all that government workers do for me and for the rest of the country.

And thank you, Dr. King, for striving to show us our better selves.

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