Strange confluence
Today is three holidays in one.
You can guess the first one easily. It’s Cinco de Mayo, to
commemorate the Mexican victory over the French occupiers of Mexico at
the Battle of Puebla. More info here, here, and here.
It’s also Ascension day for Latin Christians, commemorating the
Ascension of Christ into Heaven 40 days after the Resurrection on
Easter. (The Orthodox just celebrated Easter last Sunday, so it’s
not Ascension Day for them.) It comes 10 days before Pentecost,
which commemorates the coming of the Third Person of the Trinity, the
Holy Spirit.
It’s also Karl Marx’s birthday. You know about Karl. I
think Karl’s fantastically intelligent and interesting. If you’re
looking for something to read, I’d suggest “On the Jewish Question.”
This is perhaps the most succinct, insightful, and laser-like critique
of liberalism ever written. Although I buy liberalism in general,
Marx’s points about the failures of liberalism are absolutely necessary
to consider.
It’s also Yom Ha’shoah, the day of remembrance for the Jewish Holocaust
of World War II. It’s also a day to remember the other victims of
the Nazis (homosexuals, the mentally and physically handicapped,
gypsies, and others) and the victims of other genocides in
history. “Rest eternal grant unto them. Let light perpetual
shine on them.”
A very strange coincidence of holidays.
Ecto blogging software
5 May 2005 at 1:53 pm.
Add Yom Hashoah,
Holocaust Remembrance Day, to the mix and things get interesting, don’t they?
(My aggregator sucked up your post before you added Yom Hashoah to the text.)