Just because August has been misused is no reason to blame August. I love August. I love the heat shimmering off the streets, the empty offices and hallways, and the outdoor athletic opportunities. This is when the bike trails are best - for the fair weather riders are inside, enjoying their air conditioning. These days, I cry for the people and the generation that is unable to appreciate the heat - those who sit inside, hiding from the heat as though it were an enemy. I walk through the neighborhoods where 30 years ago children enjoyed the cooler (by comparison) evenings and chased lightening bugs or threw a ball with friends, and I feel sorry for them now - tucked away inside playing video games because they are afraid of the heat. Every neighborhood is as still as death, every person runs from the heat and hides indoors. Last year I lived in a country - much poorer than ours, where the people enjoyed August with an enthusiasm that was refreshing. Most had no air conditioing in their homes, so they took to the streets and cafes in the evenings, and stayed up late. They could sit in a cafe with friends for hours, over one cup of coffee, and enjoy the evening air. As I walked down the street near my home, I often hear peels of laughter from children - outside and running around in their yards or along the streets. And then - I would hear the same clack-slam-clack from each garden - as older men played backgammon until 1:00 a.m. These folks might not have had much, but they sure knew how to enjoy August. August gives us time to stop and think, and relax. It is the Sunday before the Monday of school. It is the calm before the post-Labor Day political season. So it doesn't have it's own three day holiday - so what? You can always back your August vacation into Labor Day with little fanfare. Give me 6 weeks of August and cut January in half. I'd be a whole lot happier.

Thank you! Someone who makes sense!!!