Tuesday, October 23, 2001

Save the date

It says something, I think, about the resilience and elasticity of the American economy that, even in these uncertain times, there is an entire store in the shopping mall devoted to selling nothing but 2002 calendars.

I would think this is a unique corner of the American mercantile, but there are also stores in the mall which sell only socks, only neckties and — I am not making this up — only decorative faceplates for light switches.

But the calendar store represents an opportunity to do some real good. When you've finished reading this, I want you to go to the mall, the office supply store or the bookstore and do two easy things:

1. Buy a calendar. Not only will your purchase stimulate the economy, as our leaders are urging us to do, but you'll also brighten your own life with the zany antics of Garfield, the grinning gobs of those milquetoast *NSYNC boys, or the still sublime Gary Larson "Far Side" cartoons. (Hell, go out and buy one of those handheld computer calendars or Palm devices or overpriced Sony geegaws. That'll be even more stimulating.)

2. Remind yourself to give. Pick a day, say Thursday. Make plans to give blood on that day. When you get back from the donation center, having spared a pint and noshed on some juice and cookies, take out your previously purchased calendar. Mark the same day eight weeks in the future, and then eight weeks after that, and so on. Plan to give blood on each of those days. Everyone got excited and rushed to give blood when there was a perceived, urgent need a few weeks ago. But the need never goes away, and the excitement and urge to help shouldn't either.

Fellow citizens, buy a calendar and use it. It's good for you, and it's good for America.