February 17th, 2020.

What does it mean to you?

To me, it meant a day off. While it wasn’t the greatest, it was still a day off of school. It also means Jim Braddock (aka Levi Dennison) turned 18, but that is neither here nor there. What is significant, however, is the history of the day. Presidents’ Day is a holiday that commemorates President George Washington’s  and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays (Feb. 22 and 12 respectively). In 1968, the U.S. passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Bill, which changed many holidays to Mondays. While it was not officially named Presidents’ Day at first, Presidents’ Day became the official name, with help in part from retailers pushing the names on sales, and the close proximity to Lincoln’s birthday. Thus, a federal holiday was born. With this federal status, it meant that many federal jobs, like postal positions, educational jobs, and DMV workers were relieved of duty on the third Monday of February, every single year.

With this information in mind, I’d like to encourage you to think of the historical significance of the days you get off, and think about the groundbreaking stuff that happened to make it a holiday. Eh, who am I kidding? I know all of you totally knew this, and I’m just wasting my time. So, next year, what will you do on Presidents’ Day? Will this encourage any other thoughts on what it means to you?