Easter Monday

I was completely grown up before I found out a very bad secret: much of the World, and certainly the rest of the Western World, is at play today, celebrating Easter Monday. In the US, we return to work.  I call it this fact a "secret" because any rational person-- if they knew about it-- would support an Easter Monday holiday, and perhaps engage in a little light agitation and community organizing on its behalf.  I suppose its omission is more in keeping with our Puritan heritage and desire to avoid heathen excess rather than good common sense. It cannot be because suddenly our country isn't mostly Christian, judging from the Standing Room Only Easter service yesterday. And that may not even matter; mostly Hindu India celebrates both Good Friday and Easter Monday as holidays. From Albania to Zimbabwe, you can practically hear the collective yawns of the world as they roll over for a few more winks.

In a time of economic meltdown, Easter Monday would provide more time for shopping, and more time for dealmaking on the golf course. With most families scattered, visiting is nearly impossible for many without an extra day after Easter to get back home. Celebrating Easter Monday would add substantial benefits to the travel industry. With family and friends visiting, people would decide it was a good idea for everyone to go out eat, adding relief to troubled restaurants.

So, think about it. Rather than tossing a few trillion into the economic pot, if Washington had simply decreed Easter Monday as a holiday, the economy might just be on a faster path to righting itself. The problem is, as a solution is is simply too simple.