Ask Melissa

I'm not sure how I ever came to be the "go-to" person. I don't think I give off the impression that I have tons of knowledge about a myriad of things (because I don't). Nor do I jump into conversations with sage words (because I prefer to listen). But for some reason if a letter needs to be written, or directions given, or numbers crunched; I get asked. Maybe because even if I don't know, I'll find out. Like why taxes are due tomorrow and not today.

I got asked that on Friday by one of the aides, only she added that someone told her it was some holiday in Washington, DC. I didn't know anything about it (my taxes are in and my refund received, so I'm not keeping up on tax day), but I looked it up. It's "Emancipation Day". "What's that?" the aide asked. I thought about getting up on my soap box to answer that but decided not to. I just told her it was the day Lincoln freed the slaves in Washington, DC.

Today I was asked by Linda, the home health office manager, if it was a bank holiday.

"No," I said. "Why?"

"Because taxes aren't due until tomorrow," she replied.

"Oh. That's because Washington is celebrating a holiday," I said.

"What holiday?" she asked.

"Emancipation Day," I answered.

"Why don't we all celebrate that?" she wondered.

"Because it's the day the slaves in Washington, DC were freed," I replied. "Not the day all the slaves were freed."

"Huh?"

Okay, so now I did get up on my soap box because ever so often a record does need to be set straight. I explained to her that the Emancipation Proclamation "freed" the slaves only in the states that were in rebellion - which, literally means it didn't free anybody except the parts of the South under Northern military jurisdiction. On Lincoln's part, it was a martial act he claimed to have under the Constitution. (I won't raise my soap box on that one right now...) It also did not end slavery or make the slaves citizens - just kind of left them in limbo. In the Union states that held slaves - Washington, DC; Maryland, Kentucky, Delaware, Missouri and West Virginia - nothing happened to those slaves. West Virginia was required to slowly emancipate their slaves upon becoming part of the Union. The other states abolished slavery by state laws. Isn't it interesting that Lincoln acknowledged state rights in the states that didn't secede, but thought only to wrench federal control of the ones that had?

"Mmh," Linda remarked after my morning history lesson. "I guess I don't know much about the Civil War...except what I was taught in school."

I held my tongue in offering her some extremely good resources on what the "Civil War" was really about. After all, even I can take only so much of my soap box at once. But if she wants any further information, I will gladly share. And after that, I can tell you all about President James Garfield, my newest find. Next after that is a book on the Battle of Bunker Hill - or should I say, Breed's Hill...yet another correction for the history books!