Re: 7th of April...I'm a single man, living alone, with depression...For me every day is No Housework Day!
Re: 28th of April: Administrative Professional's Day...YAY!!!!
Although, I would suggest it be renamed Hug A Bureaucrat Day!
Bernard Wooley, a character in Yes Minister, ( A British political sitcom of the 80's ), was once horrified to hear a rumour that the Department of Administrative Affairs ( DAA ) might be abolished to save money. He suggested a publicity campaign to make people appreciate the DAA more, utilising the following slogans: ( NB: in the UK bureaucratic activity is sometimes refered to as " Red tape ", I don't know how widespread this expression is outside the UK.
)
" Administration saves the nation. "
" Red-tape holds the nation together "
" Red-tape is fun! "
And then, of course, there was General George C. Marshall, ( Sometimes referred to as " the organiser of victory. " ) Now there was a great bureaucrat!
Without his work making sure that the US Armed Forces got all the supplies they needed, it might well have taken a lot longer to win World War Two.
In fact, I once read an account of Marshall's career that stated that President Franklin D Roosevelt had promised Marshall the command of the D-Day landings in 1944. ( The job and chance of a lifetime for a military officer such as Marshall. ) However, FDR couldn't think of anyone who could do Marshall's job as well as he did.
So, FDR, being a canny man, ( As well as being secretly Welsh, of course!
), invited Marshall to lunch with him. This lunch was supposedly to discuss Marshal's future role in command of the D-Day landings. However, throughout the meal FDR talked about how difficult it would be to replace Marshall,
and lamented loud and long about how difficult it would be to replace Marshall in his " organisational " role in Washington
...Marshall, of course, being a loyal officer and not in any way slow on the uptake, could see where FDR was going with this. So, rather than insisting on his promised post of command of the D-Day landings, Marshall diffidently suggested that if FDR wanted him to he could stay in his Washington post. FDR, accepted Marshall's offer with alacrity, saying that he wouldn't have been able to sleep nights if Marshall wasn't in Washington. ( Some bod called Eisenhower ended up in command of D-Day. He did quite well, for someone who wasn't Welsh...
)
By setting his own ambitions to one side, ( Marshall, by all all accounts, did very much want a combat command at that stage of his career. And, command of the D-Day landings would have been a prestigious and historic one. ), and stepping out of the limelight, Marshall did his country a great service.
So, on the 28th of April, please make sure that you " hug a bureaucrat "!
