Earth Day Bitterness

April is an awesome month for a number of reasons.  First of all, April stalks March and puts it out of its misery the moment it ends.  Even at young age, I recognized that March made me bitter.  Growing up in South Dakota, the weather was miserable, it was always a rough month for homework with tests and holidays that we didn’t get off.  And it is always 31 days.  Could 31 days happen for a worse month?  Now, as an old person, working for a sales company that depends on every little sale to get a bonus, March is our fiscal year end, which means long hours, upset customers, and stacks of paper going to the ceiling.  When it finally ends, I breath a sigh of bitterness, and April comes along to breathe fresh bitterness into the air.  Not only that but on April 1st, you get to play the cruelest and bitterest pranks and jokes on people, only to get out of any punishment by saying four simple words, “April Fools Day Sucker!”  Hopefully if you were cruel enough in your proke(prank/joke) that person will remain bitter with you forever.

There is a dark, bitter side to April though. My Birthday is cool for the presents and the praise, but other people talking to me kind of sucks the life out of it.  Give me presents and move on, let me be old and bitter.  But here is the worst part of April.  Earth Day.

Though Earth day is a magical time of the year, the Earth Day season starts earlier and earlier.  When I was a young, I remember the magic of Earth Day Eve, when we would all get together as a family and read stories and have a special Earth Day feast, and then my parents would force us to go to bed.  Of course we couldn’t sleep, knowing that we would be up at the crack of dawn, waking our parents.  Before we could gather around the Earth Day tree we had to make my parents breakfast.   Back in the day we didn’t start the season before April Fools Day.  Now it seems the stores are already putting up the decorations before St. Patrick’s Day even ends.

Speaking of decorations, as much as I love them, they are just so much work.  Going up to the attic, plugging in all the lights, planting all the trees, it seems like you do all this work, just for one day.  Then, the day after I feel like I am taking lights down, and the whole spirit of the holiday just disappears.

How about the music?  It’s okay at first, because it is kind of a change of pace, but after a week or two of hearing it on every station, at every mall, and store, I just want to go somewhere that isn’t playing it.   Can we just outlaw it until the week before?

The worst part of the season is the commercialism.  Does anyone remember the real reason for the season?  I mean Black April Fool’s day is getting so nuts that people aren’t even waiting until dinner is served on April Fool’s Night, before they are off to the early bird sales.  How can we make those poor retail associates work on April Fool’s night?  It not about the presents or the trees or the decorations or even the together time with family.  It’s about the dirt, and the tsunami’s , and the drought, and the volcanic eruptions, and the dandelions.  They are the true meanings of Earth Day.

While I think that all the presents and the family time and decorations and even the shopping at the mall can be a part of the season, let’s just remember the dirt.  This bitter dirt, the cranky bees, the poisoned water, the blackberry bushes that make us bitter, that is the true meaning of Earth Day.  Do not forget the trees-on for the season.

Bitter Earth Day (Only 4 days left!  Three until Earth Day Eve!)

Bitter Earthen Ben

Don’t forget to like Ben’s Bitter Blog Facebook page for extra content not seen in this Blog.  It is like the deleted scene’s from DVD’s.

Related articles

• Earth Day – Sing for the Trees (maureenjenner.com)
• 40 reasons to be Bitter (bensbitterblog.wordpress.com)
• Bitter Smile (bensbitterblog.wordpress.com)