Admiring and Despising

THOMAS JEFFERSON was born on April 2, 1743, but because the western world switched from the old Julian calendar to the modern Gregorian calendar during his childhood, in 1752, his birth date was changed to April 13, 1743. Different calendars were in use in various places in the world, but in the British empire, 1752 was the year of the great calendar transition. On Jefferson's tombstone, his birth day is listed as April 2, although since the new calendar took effect history books have listed the revised date, and to this day we acknowledge it as the true Jefferson birthday. April 13 in the new system is the same as April 2 in the old system, so, take your pick. We all consider our birthday to be special; it must have seemed strange when suddenly everyone alive in the middle of the eighteenth century had to adjust to having a new and improved date of birth. Many folks simply refused to make the switch; they cooperated with the new calendar - they really had no choice - but stubbornly clung to their original birthdays. The birth and death dates of the dead were left alone, although the dates of historical events were updated, causing confusion which took decades to completely abate. For many, both the old and the new dates were held dear to the heart throughout the rest of their lives. Across America there are many Jeffersonian admiration historical societies. For the most part, they all agree that Jefferson's birthday, the new one, ought to be a national holiday. If it were ever so honored, it would undoubtedly be squeezed into "President's Day", which occurs on a Monday every February, in honor of our American craving for three days weekends, and has surprisingly gained traction in American culture. Surprisingly, because nobody knows exactly what "President's Day" is intended to celebrate. Originally it was established as a combination of the birthday's of George Washington, February 22, and Abraham Lincoln, February 12, but since it is called "President's Day", many people assume that the holiday is designed to celebrate the lives of everybody who has served as president of the United States, all 44 of them. (Grover Cleveland served two non consecutive terms, therefore we have had 45 presidents, but only 44 different presidents). It would be strange indeed to celebrate someone born in April in February, only adding to the confusion, so, by necessity, Jefferson might have to be kept separate. The easiest thing to do might be to merely refrain from elevating Jefferson's birthday to the status of a national holiday, and that is the most likely outcome. Complicating the issue is the fact that we, in our modern political correct view of history, no longer necessarily consider Thomas Jefferson, or George Washington for that matter, worthy of celebrating. They owned slaves. Abraham Lincoln, who in his younger days did a bit of whoring around, didn't own people, but was far less the strident abolitionist than one might like to think; he in fact would have been perfectly willing to allow slavery to continue in the south, which makes the secession of the southern states upon his election somewhat ironic. What Lincoln actually opposed was the extension of slavery into newly formed western states. The upshot is, we have no idea how to treat our dead presidents, (nor anyone else, including each other), whether to venerate or denounce them. Therefore we tend to do both. The situation is comparable to Donald Trump's attitude about john McCain, and the attitude of everybody else. The most appropriate point of view is probably to accept the reality that life, and therefor history is inextricably complicated, and that we must, for the sake of honesty and accuracy, both admire and dislike everyone, including each other, including our past presidents, particularly since not only can we not decide whether they were great people or scoundrels, but we cannot even decide when they were born, what they did, and when they died.