I had a hard time deciding what to talk about this morning.  A lot has happened on May 10 throughout history, and there’s a lot to choose from. 

Christopher Columbus visited the Cayman Islands in 1503 and named them Las Tortugas, because there were a lot of turtles there.  Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette became the last French king and queen in 1774, before the French Revolution ended the monarchy.  In 1775, a Colonial militia led by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold (who was a Revolutionary War hero, before he became a notorious traitor) captured Fort Ticonderoga from the British—and on the same day in 1775, the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia, which would eventually produce the Declaration of Independence.  In 1869, the Golden Spike was placed in Promontory, Utah to complete the transcontinental railroad linking the eastern and western United States.  In 1940, Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on May 10, taking over for Neville Chamberlain, ultimately changing the course of World War II—and world history—forever.  And in 1994, Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa after serving 27 years in prison.

It all happened on May 10.  But that made me wonder—what’s in a date to begin with?  What does it even mean to say that such-and-such happened on “this day” in history?  Aren’t all days their own?  And even more than that, why do we mark time—with days, and months, and years—the way we do?  And how does it affect the way we think about history?

Give it some thought—and have a wonderful day.