“Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon.”
–Winnie The Pooh.
Surely everyone has heard the phrase “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere”? Well, it is more than a song performed by Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett. The phrase actually originated in the late 1890s, with British troops in India. This particular military duty was quite dull, the conditions squalid, and the water was not potable. So drinking was a popular pastime, but frowned upon before 5:00 p.m. It then occurred to some imaginative soldiers that the British Empire then extended around the world (hence the saying “The sun never sets on The British Empire”), making it 5 o’clock somewhere in the Empire. Thus drinking gradually began whenever the mood struck. How ’bout that?
When Winston Churchill first arrived in India, he hated the thought of drinking Scotch. But then he drank the water, which he realized that he liked even less. So he began to drink Johnnie Walker Red with the water, finding that it made both the water and the Scotch tolerable. Thus began a lifetime of drinking Scotch and water. As well as wine, cognac, and gin. In copious amounts, but only on days that end in “y”. It was probably this excessive use of alcohol that caused Mr. Churchill to suffer an untimely death at age 90. That and the cigars.
Today is the 217th Anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. Born into poverty in Kentucky, he rose to become a successful lawyer, and eventually, President of the United States. Revered today by those who note that he preserved the Union, he is criticized by those who question the legality and propriety of his methods as well as whether his methods set the stage for the growth of today’s out of control federal government.
Nevertheless, irrespective of one’s particular view of Mr. Lincoln, it is undeniable that he succeeded against all odds. He fought an unpopular war while at the same time fighting his supposed “allies” in this effort. His political skills frustrated his political opponents, and his mercy toward the defeated angered those very same political opponents. He died tragically at the hand of a maniacal assassin, having accomplished everything he sought to do but effecting a reconciliation of the people.
The Reconstruction Period which created harsh conditions and even harsher feelings lasted for more than twelve (12) years after Mr. Lincoln’s death. There can be little doubt that if Mr. Lincoln had lived, the man who won the war would have also won the peace. He is celebrated still today because he was a great and consequential man. Indeed, he was uniquely qualified for the task that lay before him.
GFK
Observations From The Fifth Estate 