Happy Brandied Fruit Day! Oh, and happy National Microfinance Day, too. I guess if you only have small amounts of brandied fruit, you can save it with low interest. Wednesday was World Menopause Day and Thursday was Evaluate Your Life Day. It’s also National Dental Hygiene Week, National School Safety Week and National Co-operative Week. October is known for being Car Safety Month, Innovation in Eye Care Month and National Occupational Therapy Month. Throw in a few more universally recognized holidays such as Thanksgiving and Halloween, and it’s a pretty busy month.
The list of national and international awareness days doesn’t stop there and it continues all year round. Nearly every day, week and month, has been dedicated to some cause or purpose. In 1957, Chase’s Calendar of Events was first published as the ultimate reference for specific awareness days. This year’s edition has more than 12,000 entries. That’s more than 32 different issues and events per calendar day.
Some of these pseudo-holidays have been created, and in some cases even copyrighted, by individuals or websites. Wellcat.com, a website that sells herbal remedies and “magickal elements,” has created and copyrighted 80 of these days. According to the website, this is an effort to encourage people to “celebrate life and its many quirky moments.”
Some days are recognized by charity organizations, farm marketing boards or other industries in favour of their particular cause or product.
Other days are created and recognized by governments and international bodies like the UN, in order to spotlight specific issues. I’m not sure what the criteria is for a national day to be declared, but it seems to be fairly easy to get. And maybe that’s just the problem; there doesn’t need to be a strict process for rating potential awareness days because there is no real power in having an awareness day anyway.
With so many groups claiming calendar dates and lobbying for their causes, the significance of the day loses all meaning. It becomes another National Fill-in-the-Blank Day that no one knows or thinks about, and ultimately does little to the cause for which the day is dedicated.
We’re awash in awareness, but how aware are we really?
Important days like this week’s International Day for the Eradication of Poverty become lost in the shuffle with all of the rest of the issues assigned to calendar days. Maybe that’s why Queen’s Health, Counselling and Disability Services dropped the ball on Mental Health Awareness Week –we’re so inundated with awareness days, weeks and months that the most important ones go unrecognized.
Having a specific day dedicated to an issue also raises the old cliche: “Shouldn’t every day be Fill-In-the-Blank Day?”
While it’s pretty unlikely that the only time you’ll worry about buckling up is during Car Safety Month, there is the risk of donating some money or attending an event to celebrate World Eradication of Poverty Day and feeling like you’ve done your part until next Oct. 17 rolls around. Many of these issues should be recognized as top priorities at all times.
Of course it’s important to be aware of important issues, and even to have fun and be silly sometimes. But do we really need a calendar day to remind us of this? Do we really need a What if Cats & Dogs Had Opposable Thumbs Day—yes, this is a real day—on March 3?
Instead of national awareness days, we need to take some personal initiative. Think about what issues are important to you and what interests you and get involved in solving those problems. If you feel like wondering what it would be like if cats and dogs had opposable thumbs, go ahead. Just don’t wait until the calendar tells you to.
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