February is a month full of celebrations

PACKET EDITORIAL, Feb. 15

By: Packet Editorial
   Here we are, midway through February, and anyone who isn’t living under a rock is surely aware that this is Black History Month. Barely a day goes by without another observance taking place — at a nearby college or university, high school, middle school, elementary school, nursery school or library, or sponsored by some federal, state, county or local civic, fraternal, social or religious organization — celebrating our nation’s rich African American heritage and honoring the admirable people who built it.
   Only slightly lesser known and less-frequently observed is American Heart Month. This, too, falls in February, because this happens to be the month during which we celebrate Valentine’s Day — which is, after all, associated with the heart. Thus, we have heart walks and heart 5-K runs and heart marathons and heart jump-ropes taking place throughout the month, bringing richly deserved attention to this important public-health topic — and much-needed funds to the American Heart Association and its local affiliates.
   You might wonder, with two such highly visible observances occurring in February, why anyone would even bother trying to raise awareness of any other cause, no matter how worthy, during the shortest month of the year. Yet here are some other celebrations — which you may be excused for not knowing about — that are taking place in February:
   Library Lovers’ Month. National Novel Writing Month. National Children’s Dental Health Month. Fraud Awareness Month. National Blah Buster Month. National Embroidery Month. National Grapefruit Month. National Weddings Month. Responsible Pet Owner Month. Return Carts to the Supermarket Month. Creative Romance Month. International Twit Award Month. Canned Food Month. Chocolate Lover’s Month. National Cherry Month. Human Relations Month. National Boost Your Self-Esteem Month. And National Snack Food Month.
   Some of these observances dovetail neatly, like Library Lovers’ Month and National Novel Writing Month. Creative Romance Month certainly goes together with National Weddings Month, and National Cherry Month (but probably not National Grapefruit Month) blends nicely with Chocolate Lover’s Month. And one could argue Canned Food Month has at least a remote connection with Return Carts to the Supermarket Month.
   Others, however, seem quite contradictory. We can’t imagine too many people observing National Snack Food Month and National Children’s Dental Health Month with equal fervor. (Or national Chocolate Lover’s Month, for that matter.) And we have to wonder if the winner of the International Twit Award will be taking part in the celebration of National Boost Your Self-Esteem Month.
   The remarkable thing about all these observances is that newspapers like ours get bombarded with press releases touting one or another of the causes they celebrate — followed by angry phone calls, e-mails and letters demanding to know why they didn’t make it into the paper. How dare we fill up our pages with stories about the borough’s new police chief, the school district’s new superintendent, Montgomery’s laptop computer initiative, the Plainsboro Preserve and the relationship between West Windsor’s mayor and Township Council when it’s National Embroidery Month?
   And, as if we don’t have enough special months to contend with, every day is a special day. For the record, today is National Gum Drop Day (another excuse to ignore National Children’s Dental Health Month). Wednesday is Do a Grouch a Favor Day. Thursday is Champion Crab Races Day. Friday is National Battery Day. By the time Presidents’ Day rolls around next Monday, it’ll be nice to be reminded that some occasions we celebrate actually have some meaning.