PINE NUTS – Do Nothing Day
May 24, 2025 | McAvoy Lane
September 18th has yet to appear in the annals of American history. Nothing important ever happened on September 18th, well, Sneaky Legs Calhoun lost his virginity on September 18th in 1960, or so he says, and that’s been about it…
If we’re really searching for something to celebrate, we have to go all the way back to 1895, when the world’s first circumnavigation by a woman on a bicycle began on September 18th, and ended fifteen months later. How she crossed the Atlantic Ocean remains a bitter question, so her name is lost in history.
This unremarkable day inspires me to honor it as a day where nothing ever gets done, and nobody cares; a day of rest if you will.
Since the Sabbath has long since passed out of favor, and the seven-day workweek has come into vogue, we have not designated one single solitary day to doing nothing; September 18th can be our day!
It will be like setting our clocks back in the fall, except we will gain an entire day instead of just an hour, and we won’t have to give it back in the spring. The idea is to put our feet up, and delight in daydreaming…
Now, employers are going to have to buy into this unofficial holiday, so I would suggest presenting this column in its entirety to your employer today. Depending upon what kind of person your boss is, you might just get September 18th off. I bet my golden gloves the Comstock Chronicle staff will at least get the afternoon off…
So what are we to do if we are determined to do nothing? Well, we could start by listening to an audio book. I would recommend Ron Chernow’s recent biography of Mark Twain if it is out…and, of course, if you can get yourself to a beach, well, it just doesn’t get any better than that…
Now, we have to prepare for some resistance. While Europeans work to live, Americans live to work. Therefore, when somebody tries to throw cold water on Do Nothing Day as being frivolous or not necessary, remind them of what Horace shouted: “Carpe Duda!” And if they still don’t get it, whisper what Liza Minnelli has been trying to tell us for years: “Reality is something you rise above.” At least we could rise above reality for this one day, September eighteenth!
If all else fails leave this quote from Leonardo Da Vinci on your desk, and walk away: “Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance, and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen.”
So there it is, please join Leonardo, Liza, Horace and me in celebrating the eighteenth of September, America’s fast emerging day off, “Do Nothing Day.”