Furmanifesto

Quick, guess which holiday is the most dangerous date on the American Calendar?

For all of its pharmaceutically enhanced late-night shenanigans New Years Eve seems a likely candidate, but it can’t compete with Independence Day.

That’s right, July 4th (not to mention the six-day period encompassing July 1-6) is the most dangerous day in the American year.

While New Years Eve may feature the judgement impairing effects of alcohol and fatigue, Independence day combines under-supervised children, fireworks, recreational vehicles, firearms, and water sports with daylong celebrations featuring alcohol, extreme heat, and in-laws.

And this all happens before the Roman Candles make their appearance at sunset.

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In the spring of 1939 A young actor named Ronald Reagan began work on a movie called “The Code of the Secret Service”.  In the film he played a hard-boiled secret service agent named  “Brass Bancroft”.

Throughout the fall of ’39 the movie was drubbed by critics and audiences alike.

It seemed very few people enjoyed the picture, even Reagan himself referred to the “The Code” as his worst performance.  In the midst of all of this criticism a 10-year-old Jerry Parr of Miami, Florida managed to see the film at least twice.

He liked it, no matter what anybody else said.

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Recently I received a complement that really got me thinking.  Someone came up to me and said, “Jon that shirt looks really good on you.”  I said, “Thank you very much.”  As I walked away I thought to myself, “That’s one of the weirdest conversations I’ve ever had.” As I thought about the phrase “That shirt looks good on you”, I realized that I was being complimented for being a hanger.

As I thought about it more I came to the conclusion that what was actually being complimented was the shirt.

The person didn’t say, “you look very nice, and I like your shirt”.

Now the person who said this is not the weirdest weirdo in the conversation, because I said, “Thank you”, as if in some way I could take credit for how good the shirt looked.  I didn’t make the shirt; I picked it out from a pile of ten other shirts just like it.

I was complimented for something that had nothing to do with me,
and then I took credit for it.

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