Happy Presidents Day

Here we are--the third Monday of February and the entire population of the United States of America is celebrating Presidents Day by shopping 'til we drop. The bigger the ticket, the hotter the item; car dealerships and electronic stores are salivating.

But I am not a shopper. I am a writer. I shop for ways to string words together to make them meaningful and memorable. Hey! I sound like a Presidential candidate.

Who is more quotable than Presidents? Molly McCall of the buzz log tracked the on-line demand for Presidential quotes. Click here Molly provides a list of the ten most widely searched presidents. Calvin Coolidge? Neither Molly nor I understand how a man nicknamed "Silent Cal" slid in at number nine.

My very favorite president is the much maligned and misunderstood, John Adams, who said: "The history of our Revolution will be one continued lie from one end to the other. The essence of the whole will be that Dr. Franklin's electrical rod smote the earth and out sprang General Washington. That Franklin electrified him with his rod - and thenceforward these two conducted all the policies, negotiations, legislatures, and war."

I am sure he wasn't the only signer of the Declaration of Independence to feel that way; he was just the only one to say it.

Which President spoke to the writers among us? Theodore Roosevelt, although he probably didn't mean this only for us: "It is always better to be an original than an imitation."

In the spirit of the day, celebrate with words, not sales.

Terrie