Cinc, Cinc, Cinco De Mayo...
Hola, people and welcome to that wonderful day in which Mexico celebrates the defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla.
See? And you thought it had something to do with Mexico's Independence Day...
Not really.
That is reserved for 16 September (their 4th of July).
But in America, it's just another day to find reason to toss a party for the uninitiated.
(shame on them)
For the skinny on all of this, here's the WIKI link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinco_de_Mayo

Now far be for me to randomly throw a party, but my very dear friend of mine from my high school days shot me a newsletter from the alumni association, and it stated that MY high school was being torn down to build a NEW one...! Certainly NOT a reason to have a party.
I have plenty of good memories there.
Perhaps, maybe a bad one or two, but overall, a nice time and a good education was to be had there.
If anything, I might consider a funeral.
The school opened in the post WW2 era, and has served the educational aspect of Northeast Philly for lo, these many decades.
But like ALL GOOD THINGS...time to push it aside for something NEWER...SHINIER...and (supposedly) BETTER.
We'll have to see on that LAST one.
Aside from George Washington High School, Lincoln was the NEWEST school in the district.
And it was my honor to attend there, taking the good along with the bad. yes, high school IS an eye-opening experience, especially when you've gotten quite comfortable in the elementary venues.
Now, I've never been one for these "middle" schools, but I suppose they MUST serve some kind of purpose (other than to empty our pockets).
I look at middle school for the breeding ground of crime and failure. It seems to give kids the chance to "hone their skills" BEFORE they hit junior high. At least it would appear that is the case.
Then again, you have to remember that back in 1965, it was a much different time.
We only had to worry about being NUKED by those nasty commies every day.
We had bread that cost 27 cents a loaf...soda that was a DIME a bottle, one nickel could still get you a mitt full of candy, burgers that cost THIRTY cents, and gas was STILL way under a buck a gallon (and that was at FULL-SERVICE stations...that had FREE MAPS and cleaned your windshield and checked fluid levels and the air in your tires).
You have to love that sh*t.
It was better then, even IF the Vietnam War was gathering momentum, and President Lyndon Johnson was flubbing his way through it.
Kids got colds, then got over them.
People, by and large, got along with one another a HELLUVA lot better than we see today.
Police actually could do PROACTIVE policing.
Just ten years before, they were STILL walking beats, checking in with those call boxes on utility poles. They knew everyone in their patrol area, and would talk to the kids all the time.There was NEVER any fear from those big guys on blue. They were there to PROTECT us all.
Seems with LESS technology, we got more done...at least we could count the number of times the police were busting someone in OUR neighborhood on ONE HAND (with several fingers missing).
Man, how those times have changed.
Now, the police appear to go from call to call to call...it's more like a complaint-driven system.
But that was all back then...and this is NOW.
Somehow, "NOW" doesn't look to be all that "enchanting" (to borrow a word from a press conference last week).
Sure, we've got a LOT more "stuff" to ease us through our lives, but there was something about simple things like WRITING A LETTER to someone, instead of "texting" them. It was nicer to talk to someone FACE TO FACE, instead of calling them (in the middle of something) on their cellphone.
You do have to remember that, with the advent of shipping a LOT of jobs elsewhere, people were forced to relocate to remain employed, and that
in and of itself was a large part of our "great divide"...people having much greater distances between one another. So the "face to face" aspect was gone for good, unless you had all that disposable income to blow on FLYING.
But, it IS Cinco De Mayo.
Time to party, right?
Forget your troubles, instead of facing them and doing something about them.
Sorry, but I'm not really buying into that just yet.
I like to spend a portion of every day seeking answers, pursuing knowledge, and, hopefully, gleaning a smattering of wisdom along the way.
The Mexicans celebrate an unexpected VICTORY (back in 1862) today.
Can we claim a victory today for ourselves?
If you look hard enough, you might surprise yourself and find a "victory".
It may not be THE victory, but it could be A victory.
No matter how small it might seem to others is not the issue.
What is important, is how it matters to YOU.
After all, YOU spend more time with YOU than anyone else, right?
And on that note...
Stay safe out there, America.