In The Good Old Summertime

 

IT MAY BE MID-SUMMER AND WE ARE MORE THAN HALFWAY THROUGH THE YEAR. But it’s no big deal. It just makes things a little herky-jerky for the world. Not the whole world.

Actually, it’s only me.

The midpoint of summer comes around the end of July, early August. But the real midpoint, astronomically, is at the start of summer – since then the hours of sunlight get shorter by a few minutes each day. That is not a good sign.

In Baseball, the All Star Game is considered the halfway point of the season. It’s not. That came with Game #81 which was played a couple of weeks ago.

It’s like telling a person who is 55 years old that they are “Middle Aged.” Sure they are – if they have plans of making it to 110 candles on their cake.

Here we are at July 30. It is, indeed, summertime yet here in Terre Haute (That’s French for, “Where did we pack the thermal underwear?”) the local kids are looking at the calendar and wondering what went wrong. Here in the Solar Plexus of Indiana school starts again on August 8^th.

August 8^th? What moron came up with that idea?

Imagine it for yourself. If you are sitting in a classroom on August 8^th – you look out of the window and see the sunshine and green grass – are you going to be amenable to learning? I doubt it. Your mind and your heart will be outside enjoying what is called “Summertime.”

When I was a kid we didn’t return to school until the day after Labor Day. Summertime was our time, not the nun’s time.

Aside from wasting a huge chunk of of the kid’s summer vacation by going back to school so early makes things difficult for the Parents. Any late summer family plans they may have been hoping for get scratched.

Shopping for new school clothes and supplies have come weeks earlier than they really should – and those new shoes are going to be worn out or outgrown sooner than necessary. I swear – this idea of starting school on August 8^th is ridiculous and expensive.

The Indiana State Fair – a true Celebration of Summer runs from August 3 to August 19. Sorry folks, we have rewritten the calendar of reality. For most of the run of the Fair kids will be in school and families at home.

Are the Hoosier kids that dense that they need those extra weeks to learn their ABCs or are the teachers ineffectual that they need the additional time to make themselves understood?

I have yet to hear anyone from the School District give me a sensible reason for this nonsensical aberration of Time. Perhaps there are other reasons, but our school administrators are too busy dealing with little inconveniences like FBI raids on their offices, corruption trials, and death threats aimed at witnesses to explain things.

I don’t mean to upset anybody’s apple carts, but I do not understand why things like this early start to the school year have to be.

Maybe I shouldn’t have played hooky so many times.

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