Time and Again

      Many secular and religious calendars already have days labeled to commemorate historical events and to honor important people, then we add birthdays and anniversaries of family members, school schedules, and other important upcoming events.  Those close to nature like farmers and gardeners note the best days to plant, prune, and harvest.  We need to stop and consider who decides when it's time to do something.
     Countries label days that encourage citizens to be patriotic.  Many religions set aside days of worship and schedule topics to be emphasized throughout the year.  Retailers encourage people to buy lots of stuff for special days: presents, decorations, special food.  We have allowed other people to decide when it's time to do things.
    Realistically speaking, we all have to consider family needs and work schedules, but we have an obligation to ourselves to decide how we use our days.  Time should allow us to develop and make decisions based on our own needs instead of perpetuating decisions and traditions made by others.   Each of us needs to control when it's time to do whatever we decide to do.  When we keep doing the same things time and again, we decrease the opportunity to plan our own calendar, to design our own lives.