Special days in March to commemorate

Hi neighbors. Don't forget to turn your clocks ahead one hour tonight when you go to bed. It's time to "spring forward" again. Oddly enough our spring-like weather may turn the clock back to winter standard time with threats of cold temperatures and even snow ahead this week. The weather will be what it will be, as we all know.

March has some special days to celebrate and research including Purim, Saint Patrick's Day, the first day of Spring, International Day of Happiness, International Day of Forests, World Poetry Day, World Water Day, National Puppy Day, World Tuberculosis Day, National Doctor's Day and on the 31st is Cesar Chavez Day.

I have to admit knowing little to nothing about Cesar Chavez, so good ole Google provided the research. For those of you who may also know little about him, this American achieved recognition for defending civil rights for farm workers. Here is some further information.

Cesar Chavez Day commemorates the life and achievements of Cesar Chavez. Cesar Estrada Chavez was a Mexican-American farm worker who was a civil rights and labor movement activist. Chavez stood and fought for labor rights using nonviolent resistance, such as boycotting and fasting.

At the age of 17, Chavez served in the U.S. Navy for two years. After serving in the Navy, Chavez worked in the fields until 1952, when he became the organizer of the Community Service Organization. He co-founded the National Farm Workers Association in 1962 with Dolores Huerta Chavez, an association that he used to create unions and lobby for better pay and safer working conditions in the farming community. Chavez passed away peacefully in his sleep on April 23, 1993. In recent years, President Barack Obama has proclaimed that Cesar Chavez Day be observed on March 31.

And what would March be without Saint Patrick's Day? Indeed, what would America be without our Irish immigrants? As a person who studies genealogy, I bet most of us in this area have some Irish in our ancestral history. A lot of our folktales, music and customs come from our Irish roots.

With all the contentions about race, religion and cultures abounding these days, it might be a good time to learn more about the people who make up this great nation. Learning how our histories all combined to make America what it is couldn't be studied without learning a few things we never knew.

How many people representing different races and/or cultures do your children attend school with? How many do you work with or know socially? And yes, you can count your social media friends.

I am on social media fairly often and I enjoy hearing opinions from friends around the world. We had a long discussion between myself and women from New Jersey, Italy, Chechnya and other American states about the daily schedules we all follow.

I discovered schools have different times of attendance and ages of students, workers start work later and work till evening, evening meals are served in most places (except the Midwest) far later in the evening than we would consider "normal."

A family in the Middle East is available to me to discuss childhood development, religious holidays they celebrate and their longing for the freedom American life offers.

There are differences in cultures, social customs and religious observances all around the globe. With putting all of our differences aside though, we are all just families wanting to have a home, feed and educate our children, and maintain a social norm free of persecution.

The more I hear of other countries and the families living in them, the more I see of photos of other people in their homes the more I realize that it is the individualism of each person that makes us all the same!

That spark of "we the people" is the uniqueness of America and American life. It is not necessarily the uniqueness of Americans.

As we realize that many others in the world want the American lifestyle, we must remember that America isn't big enough for the world's population. Helping people of other countries gain their vision of America has always been our goal. We have found out in recent years that democracy cannot be given to those who have not had the hunger for it. Democracy without the power of the people behind it will fall.

It takes a lot of work to maintain our American way of life. The first step each of us must take to keep America as we view it is to learn the history of the people who formed it. We are fortunate to be in America; let's celebrate being here together.