We’ve got a good friend who used to make a point to stop and pick any spare dropped change on the street—everything from a lowly penny, to a dime, to a twenty he once found on the streets of DC if I remember correctly. He may still make a habit of this day, for all I know, but, point being, he gathered all this change with the intent of eventually using it to buy something he’d never otherwise spend his money on; it was “free money” in his mind, essentially.
In the days leading up to this year’s leap day—the quadrennial retroactive accounting we engage as a society to make up for the fact that it takes the Earth 365.242199 days to circle the sun, not 365—I’ve come to view Leap Day in the same manner. We just got handed 24 hours that we don’t usually have, and we should do something awesome with it. Why not build a kite with a friend and fly it in the park? Or go to an old folks home and spend some time with some lonely elders? Or publish a satirical newspaper? Or just sit and do absolutely nothing in this age of doing way too much of everything?
Time is fleeting, our days on this earth uncertain, and, though it’s all essentially a trick of math in this made up, clearly flawed system of time measurement, why not take advantage of this fake holiday to guide your life in a positive direction it wouldn’t otherwise be steered in? Like doing something really special for someone you love on Valentine’s Day even though you know full well it’s a pseudo-holiday that’s been co-opted by commercialism.
Or you can just propose to dudes if you’re traditional turn-of-the-century British women. Or Amy Adams.
