I Mean, Earth Day Is Great And All, But...

Ok, y'all know I very rarely go on rants here but I am fired up about something today. Can someone please tell me WHY Earth Day just has to occur on the same day as Good Friday and not on any one of the other 364 days available in the year?? I understand that they just happen to fall on the same day this year but if our country's leaders were able to push Tax Day back this year so it didn't coincide with Emancipation Day (who even celebrates that??), then why couldn't they push Earth Day back?

I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm all for doing what we can to save poor ol' "Mother Earth" (which also bugs the mess out of me. The earth is not in any way, shape, or form my mother. But that's a completely separate rant.).

I am a nut about recycling. We live outside of our city limits and don't have recycling pick up at our house so for the past almost three years that we've lived here, I've insisted that we save all of our recycling and give it to my parents to put with theirs, since they do have a pick up service. Pretty much every time I see my parents, one of the first things I do after I hug them is hand over bags and boxes full of recyclables. My husband, mom and dad all laugh and roll their eyes at me but indulge my efforts. I make a point to turn off lights in rooms we're not currently in, I unplug appliances that aren't being used, I do my best to remember to bring reusable bags when grocery shopping (though I have to admit, I do forget  more often than not), and I look for products that are environmentally friendly whenever possible.

So I get it. I get that we need to do our part to preserve our valuable natural resources and the earth in general. I have no problem with that.

I do, however, have a problem with the fact that the day chosen to promote green ideas and raise awareness of Mother Earth's dire condition just so happens to occur on the day that is meant to celebrate our heavenly Father and the sacrifice that His son made. Jesus suffered unfathomable pain and died a horrific death because He loves us so much that He couldn't bear the thought of spending eternity without us. He knew that our sin had to be punished and unless he took the punishment upon Himself, we would have to suffer the consequences and be separated from Him forever. So He chose to take our punishment for us, so that we could be forgiven and spend eternity with Him, if we choose to accept His gift and live for Him.

So it seems to me that the very least we could do is to put aside one day a year to focus on Him and do our best to express how very thankful we are for His sacrifice that day so many years ago, without distracting from the meaning of the day by going on and on about green living. I'm all for having a day to raise awareness of the earth but why does it have to be today? Who decided that Good Friday wasn't an important enough reason to postpone Earth Day for one year? (I mean, clearly it's not as important as Emancipation Day.) I'd love to have a little chat with them and ask what in the name of Mother Earth they were thinking!

And now I'm done. Rant over, thanks for letting me vent!