Special Feature

Who Knew?

Well….stupid covid (can’t bring myself to capitalize the word) put a couple of cogs in the Old Town Crier wheel this month. Just as we were finalizing the Personality Profile interview, our interviewee was hit hard by the virus and we had to reschedule for next month. In the scramble to get all of the parts to our designer – who, by the way, also got hit with it the weekend before our deadline – we had to come up something entertaining for this space. And what is more entertaining than knowing that there are really important things in August that many of us have never celebrated. I consulted calendar.com/united-states and who knew that there are 97 said celebrations I had never heard of. Obviously there are several things to celebrate on the same days. I picked the following since one is pretty self-serving and the other for the good of the order:

National Lazy Day – August 10th

If you have been very busy with work or school lately, and you just need a day to relax and do nothing, then August 10th is the perfect day for you as it is Lazy Day! A day to do no work, no house chores, and to just sit down and enjoy your favorite TV show, read your favorite book, or anything you want, just as long as it is a lazy activity. The best part is that you don’t have to feel guilty about it because this day is a celebration of laziness!

Like many unofficial holidays, the origins of National Lazy Day are unknown. However, it sure seems to have become a popular day with people, probably because who doesn’t like a day that allows them to be a couch potato.

Why Being Lazy Can Be Good.

Even though many people see being lazy as a negative thing, there can actually be quite a few benefits to it!

For one, lazy people are more likely to be well-rested and therefore have decreased levels of stress as well as a better memory and attention span. This means that lazy people often are better at focusing on their longterm goals, as they spend their idle times thinking about and planning for the future. In other words, their minds are freer to set goals as they are not always preoccupied with what is happening in the present.

At the same time, lazy people like to finish their tasks as quickly as possible, which means that they can be more efficient, especially as they would hate to have to re-do a task which means they will do their best to do it well. Similarly, those who are lazy will waste less time because every activity needs to be worth their time, and they only get involved in events that have meaning to them. Who knew?

What to do on Lazy Day

The obvious answer to this is: be lazy! This doesn’t mean spend your whole day sleeping, although you can do that if you want, but just take the day to relax and not strain yourself too much. You can stay on the sofa and catch up on that tv show you’ve been meaning to watch, or you can spend the day laying in the park reading that book you’ve been meaning to for a while. All of this should be done, of course, while wearing your most comfortable clothes.

This is also the perfect day to cut yourself some slack and leave the house chores for tomorrow. You can even order takeout instead of cooking dinner.

National Beach Day – August 30th

National Beach Day is celebrated at the height of summer on August 30th. Everyone loves to spend a warm day laying on their towel on a sandy beach, making sandcastles, and taking a dip in the beautiful sea, and this is the day to celebrate that experience! National Beach Day also raises awareness about how important it is to keep beaches clean so everyone can enjoy them. Background

The first people to have the idea of a day to celebrate the beaches in the United States were the Knights of Columbus in Milwaukee, in 1929. This day was meant to be a part of their convention plans, but it never took off in popularity. Not a lot of beachfront around Milwaukee.

The day was forgotten until 2014, when family lifestyle expert Colleen Page created National Beach Day, an unofficial holiday, to be observed at the end of August. The goal of this day is to show appreciation for beaches and show people that they must be kept clean so that future generations can enjoy them as we do!

Through the years the government has taken some actions to make sure that the beaches are clean and safe for people. In 1948 the Clean Water Act was passed, which ensures that there are water quality and pollution standards that keep the waters on beaches clean. Then in 1972, the government passed the Coastal Zone Management Act whose goal is to preserve, protect, and restore the coastal zone of the United States. And finally, in 2000 the BEACH Act was passed, requiring the EPA to set standards for testing and monitoring the water.

What to do on National Beach Day

Gather a group of friends and organize a cleanup on the closest beach to you. Try to encourage the beachgoers that are there to join you, and collect all the trash that people have left behind them. When you’re all done, lay down on your towel and relax, cool down with a dip in the sea. Make a fun day out of doing something good for the environment!

There are many organizations around the United States dedicated to keeping the beaches clean. Check if there’s one near you and volunteer to help them out the next time you are at the beach.