Petition Congress for Change

I’ve decided to circulate a petition that will eventually be sent to Congress, a petition dealing with one of the most important issues of our time. Abortion, gay rights, funding for education, defense spending and the war, campaign finance reform, and a proposal to limit the voice of extremism are all worthy causes and issues that should be talked about and voted on.

However, did you notice that I said “ most important issues of our time?” I would like to petition Congress to change our calendar year. Yep, I’m not satisfied with the January to December calendar and would like it to be changed.

Here’s the thing, we start and end the year with snow and cold and dangerous driving conditions. Airports and highways get bogged down and deadly due to snow and ice at a time when everyone just wants to get over the river and through the woods…..well you know the rest. Who wants to start a new resolution when you have to force yourself out into the miserable cold every morning to achieve it? Not me.

But I am not one of those people that just complains about an issue without offering a solution. In fact, I have a couple of possible solutions to this terrible problem.

1. Let’s have the calendar year run from March to February. Think about it, the new year would start as spring was just beginning. We could ring in the new year with March Madness and the state basketball tournament rather than in the middle of the wrestling and basketball seasons. The
2. What about starting the new year in September, coinciding with the start of the new school year? This makes sense for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that the end of summer always feels like the end of something important anyway. This way, the school year could just be referred to as 2011 rather than 2011-2012 year, which would save on ink for yearbooks and screenprinted t-shirts.

   Both of these options also allows New Year’s Eve to happen when it is likely that the roads will be snow and ice free and therefore safer.

3. Let’s just move Christmas. The date was originally chosen to coincide with a pagan ritual so there is really no reason other than tradition that it has to occur in December. I vote for moving it to June or August when travel is not likely to be interrupted by weather. Present shopping wouldn’t be so awful if you weren’t freezing between stores and hurrying because you are worried about the roads getting slick. Plus you wouldn’t have to hold 6 winter coats while your kids sit on Santa’s lap in the mall. Sure, we might have to change some of the Christmas songs and decorations but it is a small price to pay for a Christmas turkey on the grill and a football game without mittens.

If you are with me on this, let’s get the petition started so we can all change our calendars. And yes, I realize that there are other areas of the country and the globe for whom December and January are warm months. But honestly, I’m just thinking about myself here and I will not be apologizing.

So, let’s start campaigning!