ON THIS DAY
March 16th
“To Break”
Let’s talk about March 16th.
The historical theme of this day in history is “to break”. Like how the Native Americans broke the ice with the Plymouth settlers on this day in 1621 and said “we exist” — they probably didn’t say that exactly, what with English as we speak it still a ways off and the natives having their own language and whatnot. Either way, one of the world’s most significant misunderstandings played out over the next 4 centuries.*
Sherman, set the WABAC machine to 1850, when we can first read about Hester Prynne and how she broke the ~7th (“thou shalt not commit adultery” is variously listed as 6, 7 or 8 depending on the source) commandment in Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter”; which was published on this day.*
Seventy-six years later, Dr. Robert H. Goddard successfully launched a liquid-fueled rocket. A feat that would eventually lead to him breaking the sound barrier and inspiring man to break through the atmosphere of our shiny blue orb and into outer space.^
The 1919 Treaty of Versailles ended WWI and forbade Germany from any military activity. Adolf Hitler, arguably the biggest rulebreaker in the history of forever, flaunted that restriction on this day in 1935, when he began the rearmament of Germany.^ But he wasn’t done. In his tireless search to find things to break, he broke his promise to leave the rest of Czechoslovakia alone; invading the syllable rich nation on this day, anno domini one thousand nine hundred and thirty-nine.*
Sometimes breaking is a good thing, like when William K. Kerr, a doctor in Canadia, indeed, broke the news that, indeed cigarettes, indeed, are biochemically linked to cancer (indeed) in the 66th year of the 20th century (indeed, I’m talking about 1965, because, indeed, 1900 could be considered the first year of the 20th century.^
In 1968, US troops shattered popular opinion about our presence in Vietnam and broke international law when they massacred 200 to 500 civilians at My Lai in South Vietnam.^
Some posit that the legal system of the United States is broken. Not so on this day in 2005, when Scott Peterson was sent to death row for slaying Laci Peterson, his pregnant wife.^
Finally, a guy who seemed real nice who gave some hookers whose car broke down a ride passed away at the age of 41 today in 2011. I speak, of course, of Nathaniel Hale aka Nate Dogg.^
Aside From the car breaking down, Hale, with the help of artists like Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and Warren G, broke through the color barrier of rap and hip-hop music, making it more widely popular among both whites and blacks.
Lesson from this day — sometimes cars break, other times news breaks. Maybe something believed to be broken really isn’t. I think the most important thing to remember is that we often cause things to break, and usually, the results aren’t great.
*https://www.historynet.com/today-in-history
^http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/march16th.html
