August's National Days

August 2023

This month, we asked our writers to pick a 'National Day ..."
 in August and write about it!

National Friendship Day

Devin Owen
MSMU Class of 2026

There are billions of people in this world, and somehow, we only meet a small section of the population—and out of this small section, there are only a select few who fall into the category of friendship. I wonder if anyone reading this knew that there is a day dedicated to just that: friendship.

National Friendship Day falls on August 26th and is a day which reminds us to recognize the friendships and bonds which we have built over the course of our lives. I would consider myself to have had quite a few insanely impactful friendships over the years. Some of the people I was friends with in high school I no longer speak to, and some of them I haven’t lost contact with for a single day—it’s crazy how that works, isn’t it?

People come and go from our lives; yet, I am lucky enough to have had one person stick by my side for the last decade—my best friend, Madyson. We have been attached at the hip since we were seven years old, and, having seen each other at our highest and lowest points, there’s not much that could surprise either of us. This particular friendship began in second grade, on the playground during recess, and has continued through the divorce of both of our parents, different relationships and friend groups, high school, and then us moving hundreds of miles apart. Through every phase of our lives, we have always had the other there—whether in person or in heart, we are always with one another. And with connections as strong as ours, comes a plethora of memories worth honoring.

For my birthday in eighth grade Madyson gave me a "jar of memories," which was a mason jar filled with sticky notes depicting the things she loves about me, her favorite memories, and just things she wanted to tell me. I open the jar anytime I feel sad or homesick. The surprising number of memories we had made in a short period of time, now feel like a lifetime ago. I remember this one day when we had a ‘best friend date’; we had our parents drop us off at Panera and we had lunch—where I wrapped a piece of bread in a napkin and stuck it in my purse (attempting to embrace my inner Aladdin)—and then we walked to mini golf, where Mads got attacked by a bird. I don’t think I have ever laughed so hard in my life!

There were also the less happy times we faced together, though; but for every single one of these times, I had this tall, blonde, goofy girl standing beside me, holding my hand through it all. At this point, we don’t consider ourselves as just friends, but rather sisters. This was made evident in a text she sent me when she told me she was moving to North Carolina—the furthest we have ever been from one another in our lives: "I could never forget about you, you’re my little Devy, my sister, my partner n crime, and my forever maid of honor and don’t you forget that." This friendship turned into a sisterhood, and for that I am so incredibly lucky—so incredibly loved too.

Speaking of sisterhood, National Friendship Day just-so-happens to fall on my oldest sister’s birthday! In a way, siblings are the first friends you ever make. Regardless of how many fights you have and the growing up or apart, your siblings are essentially where you learn what friendship is. My oldest sister, Brooke, is probably one of my best friends now. We experienced things growing up that brought us extremely close and made it easier to lean on one another. As weird as it is watching your best friend get married, having kids, and becoming their own person with their own life, it’s also really cool getting to be a part of it all along the way.

Whether it’s with siblings or friends, one of the best kinds of friendships, in my opinion, are where you have someone in your life who knows you better than you know yourself—because these types of friends are those who will call you out when you need it most. As hard as it is to be called out, it’s also great because they make you realize that you do have people in your life who have your back; people who want you to be the best version of yourself.

Nonetheless, all friendships change and evolve and change over the years. You can lose some, gain some, some even turn into something more—like sisterhood or, as I recently learned, a relationship. One of the best friendships I have at Mount—aside from my roommate/best friend—is with my boyfriend. I was always told growing up that the best relationships start as great friendships, and I’ve learned that it’s not too far off from the truth.

Friendships not only teach you about other people, but they teach you about yourself. They help you learn what’s good for you, how to stick up for yourself, and so much more. We can learn a lot from the people surrounding us, even if we don’t realize it. I’m incredibly lucky to have so many great friends in my life currently, and I even consider myself lucky to have the friendships that were lost over the years. We should take into account the way other people help make us who we are as we grow older, regardless of whether or not we are friends with certain people still. They had an impact on our lives at one point because of a friendship, and that impact us even as time moves on.

I urge you to take some time on August 26th to recognize and celebrate your friendships. Whether it be by telling them face to face, making plans together, or even just thinking about them with gratitude, it is a celebration, nonetheless.

Happy National Friendship Day to all my friends; those who I have lost touch with, those I still have, and even the friends I am yet to make. I would not be where I am now without any of them by my side.

Read other articles by Devin Owen

Global Sleep Under the Stars Day

Joey Carlson
MSMU Class of 2025

Very often I walk through the woods by my house. It is stunning how magical such a place can be, even to an adult, if only he is left to his own thoughts. Once, a bird landed along the path before me, in much the same way Miss Dickinson’s did. Happy to have a companion, I looked for a while, expecting it to fly away and the moment to be lost soon enough. Well, the bird did not fly away, and as I moved closer, it kept hopping along beside me. Soon I had walked a good part of the path following the bird, half expecting Aslan or the Lord Jesus to be around the corner. Eventually the bird took a turn I could not follow, into a neighbor's yard, and I left begrudgingly. The birds are good friends, I think, and the older I get, the more I envy them. The birds seem to me to be content doing what they are meant to be doing – not just flying, but, among other things, sleeping outside. Birds manage their whole lives outdoors, and spend much of their time in the sky. The modern person could probably be said to live in the opposite manner.

The sky is surprising. The sky is constant; it is there for everyone to see, yet few people look up. Life keeps us from looking up, but in doing so we forget to live, we forget that there is something better, something constant, something strange, something surprising and beautiful and lovely and messy but perfect, always above us and with us, as if enveloping the space we take up and guiding our course through the heavens. Instead, we go to sleep looking at the ceiling; We trade the stars for nightlights and security.

August 8th is Global Sleep Under the Stars Day. The whole idea of sleeping under the stars has made me think about humanity’s relationship with nature. Should we be as separate as we are now from nature? Certainly not. People suffer desperately without sunlight, it seems; Vitamin D ought to be the easiest vitamin to get but deficiencies are common. Without going outside regularly, the body’s serotonin levels drop, and it is difficult not to feel depressed. It is easy to realize that our concrete castles are making us feel bad; after all, we have an incredible amount in common with animals, even with birds, and animals certainly do not avoid the outdoors. I am certainly happy with my air conditioning and comfortable mattress, but I also know that desiring comfort is often an easy way to make a bad choice. It is natural of course, but it might very well lead to unnatural conditions for the human person.

I have a dog that is somewhat crazy. We found out that she is inbred, and currently she is on prozac for her clinical anxiety, and she barks all the time, etc. One night, sometime after midnight, I happened to be up, and found my dog waiting at the door for me to let her out. This is not incredibly uncommon, since dogs need to use the restroom in the middle of the night as often as their human counterparts. But after waiting about ten minutes, I realized that she was not coming in; in fact she was way back in the yard and out of sight. It was winter, so I was anxious to get her back in, but I went outside looking for her. I found her contently sitting in a field of grass, not a care in the world. Already I was impressed. I tried to bring her in, but she would put both paws on me as if she were giving me a hug, and then roll onto the ground. I figured, if you can’t beat them, join them, and I laid down next to her. The stars were perfect. I realized that this might be the only time she ever gets where everything is quiet. We live near a highway, which is partly why she barks so often, but at 12:30am, you couldn’t hear a sound.

My dog was raised on a farm. We made the mistake of picking the puppy chasing the guinea hens (she still has an identical energy). We should have known then that a dog that had never been indoors before would always prefer the sky. I wonder if we are something like that, if we human beings are made for one thing and we are born into a broken world that keeps it from us. I don’t think that we are supposed to sleep outside all the time, or even that we are necessarily made for that. I’m really not sure what I think.

I get a little teary-eyed thinking about my dog out in the field. I like to think that I understand what that’s like – all the time being surrounded by unnatural noise, and only desiring something natural and quiet and simple. The birds in the air are a little freer than my dog. Sure, they are not nearly as comfortable as housepets (as often as my pets have taken my spot on the couch, they’re more comfortable than I am), but they have something that we do not have. When they go to sleep, they do not see a dark wall above them or a light in the corner, but they see the whole universe stretched out before them. I think we would be better off if we got comfortable doing the same thing.

Read other articles by Joseph Carlson

International Blind Dog Day

Claire Doll
MSMU Class of 2024

In the final moments of my dog’s life, he couldn’t see. He could barely hear. He walked slowly around the house, his body thin and frail. I can still remember the sound of his paws against hardwood floor, his collar tags ringing together. His sixteen years of life behind him, as if weighing him down. Yet, although he was quite literally blind (cataracts) and couldn’t make out most noises, he still turned his head at the sound of my voice, folded his ears down and crept towards me. And just like that, I was six years old again, and he was the new puppy crawling into my lap.

I had no idea that International Blind Dog Day was a thing. Celebrated on August 23rd, this holiday appreciates dogs with blindness. As dogs have evolved with people, their health issues have related to human nature as well. The care and protection of dogs has only recently become a priority, and International Blind Dog Day serves to sensitize owners and recognize our beloved pets’ disabilities which also matter.

When I first saw that this holiday existed, I immediately thought of two things: Toby, my childhood dog who passed at the age of 16 years in 2021, and a class I took last fall, called Literature and the Environment.

The English course focused on the representation of animals in literature. We read books such as Life of Pi, exploring the roles between wildlife and humans, and we even researched the environmental impacts humans have left on the world, and the records of this left behind in literature as well. It was a fascinating course, using literary analysis, philosophical perspectives, and scientific research to pose interesting questions—questions we’ve spent several classes discussing.

When we reached the unit on pets, the questions grew deeper, and the discussions grew emotional.

For example: is it possible for a dog to love? Do dogs have souls? If dogs experience pain, does this suffering reveal a greater spiritual reason?

When I was young and spent my childhood growing up with Toby—playing dress up and sneaking him into my bedroom at night—I was convinced that we were best friends. Long before he developed blindness and became hard of hearing and was in constant pain, he would run circles around the backyard, play catch with his favorite toy, and lie in the sun. I would sit down next to him and feel certain that we were best friends, that he loved me as much as I loved him.

But this Literature and the Environment course revealed theories that went against what I believed as a child. For example, the attachment theory shows how the very close relationships between pets and humans serve merely as a transaction for nurturing behaviors. In these relationships, while pets seek safety and protection, humans crave companionship. It is in our nature to believe that dogs love us, that they are here for our utility, that their pain is our pain.

As Toby grew older, and as I progressed to college, I noticed how his age slowed him down. He lost some of his hearing, and if I looked closely, I noticed what looked like blurry clouds in his right eye: cataracts. Toby couldn’t see well, and I did what any human would have done. I imagined myself in his shoes—I mean, paws.

This raised another question: do animals feel emotion? Did Toby feel sad or upset that he lost his eyesight? Did he grow sorrowful over his once clear vision?

Emotions are a very subjective experience, individual to our own psychological states and processes. However, we must assume that animals have emotions to understand the roots of their behavior and how they process positive and negative experience.

At the very end of Toby’s life, when we took him to the veterinary clinic to "put him down," I wanted to know so badly if Toby felt emotion. Although he couldn’t see, did he recognize this? Was he conscious of his lack of eyesight, his hard of hearing?

I held Toby for the last time, and he looked up at me with those blurred, big brown eyes, and suddenly, I was six again, staring up at my baby puppy. But I was twenty, and Toby was dying, and he couldn’t see me. He was suffering every day and needed the pain to go away. And although I couldn’t for sure know if he felt sad or upset or sorrowful, I knew he was unsettled. Toby didn’t know what was happening, but he knew something was different.

And he couldn’t see. I imagined being blind myself, hearing distant voices and being in a cold room and feeling scared, shaking and shivering.

In the final moments of Toby’s life, he felt the pierce of a shot, yelped loudly, and then stopped shaking in fear. Felt his last pulses of life. Then slipped away quietly.

It was difficult, experiencing this. Toby was an amazing dog, and even if he was just a dog, I loved him as my best friend all throughout my childhood. But when I took Literature and the Environment, only then did I reflect on the emotions we experience when going through things like this.

Toby being blind revealed a deeper type of empathy I struggled to define. How could I know for sure if he felt scared or sad when losing his eyesight? How can any human cope with this, with the knowledge that a dog might be suffering when we can’t truly know this for sure? It’s its own type of sadness, somewhere between feeling empty and hopeless.

But what do we know? That International Blind Dog Day exists, meaning there is so much for love for all dogs, especially those with disabilities. That there is an attachment between humans and their pets, and so what if we call this love? In its most simple definition, love is a powerful connection that transforms.

By writing about Toby and reflecting on the August 23rd holiday, I want to raise awareness to all the dogs struggling with blindness—whether they know this or not—because they are loved, fully, and this is most definitely known.

Read other articles by Claire Doll

National Thrifting Day

McKenna Snow
MSMU Class of 2023

"Buy it nice or buy it twice" is generally a helpful rule of thumb when purchasing things that you’ll need for years to come. Buying nice clothing, especially, can be a worthy investment—linen fabrics will be sturdier and longer-lasting than synthetic materials, and they’ll likely be more breathable, too. A hand-made cashmere sweater will be softer and warmer than a sweater made from rayon that will shrink after one wash and improper dry. However, when I’ve looked at price tags for cashmere sweaters, it is evident to me that in this case, buying nice isn’t just unnecessary, it simply isn’t feasible.

However, I try to avoid purchasing cheaper clothing from fast-fashion stores. The insistent pressure to keep up with what’s "in" this week, even though it will change next week, along with the darker production and labor practices of many companies that create cheap fashion, are both reason enough for me to strive to stay away. More ethical companies, however, are oftentimes more expensive, especially since the quality is usually better. But I cannot get all my clothing from all these better, nicer brands, simply because I can’t afford it. So I face a dilemma: my moral preference is to avoid the fast-fashion industry, and my frugality limits the ability to "buy nice" to my heart’s content.

The solution? Thrifting. The good news is, you don’t have to go to the top of the line, name-brand stores to buy things nice. You don’t have to go to the best of the best kitchenware store or dorm-decorating department to find what you’ll need for your new home, apartment or college life. Thrift stores often have gently-used decorations and furniture. Moreover, thrift stores are a fantastic option to not only downsize your own closet through donating gently-used items and clothing, but they are also a great place to find great-quality clothing for a fraction of the price.

If you’ve never gone thrifting before, I suggest you give it a try. A great day to go is August 16th, which is National Thrifting Day, a day to celebrate reusing, donating, and re-purchasing gently-used items and clothing.

I am a huge fan of thrifting, and have been going to thrift stores for years. When I was in ninth grade, my friend invited me to be her plus-one at a dance her private school was hosting. I was so excited to get dressed up in a fancy prom-dress style gown and go to this dance with my friend. But upon going to a department store to see their options for dresses, I realized that their price tags far exceeded what I could afford, and I would have to look elsewhere. For weeks, my mom and I looked at thrift stores, and had very little success, but we continued to look to find just the right dress.

We were out running errands probably a week before this dance. I still didn’t have a dress, and felt like I had looked everywhere. I asked my mom if I could just run into the local Goodwill one more time, even though I had already checked there last week. I ran in with my sister, and found their formal dress section. Lo and behold, I found a beautiful formal dress that fit perfectly. It was in almost perfect condition, and I felt lovely in it. It was probably around twenty dollars in total. The dress was perfect for the dance with my friend, and I didn’t have to worry about wasting tons of money on a dress I really only wore once.

Similarly, some of my favorite outfits have been entirely thrifted. I found a top-quality maroon flannel button up I wore all through high school in the wintertime, and even through college. I have found beautiful skirts for daily Mass, and casual dresses for summertime, almost always under ten dollars. I also found the twinkling, long string of icicle lights that I hung in my dorm for a grand total of four dollars. They lasted me the entirety of my senior year, and added an element of cozy décor that helped me feel at home. One of my favorite mugs, a neat dark blue mug with a fox carved into it, was found on a thrifting adventure out with my boyfriend. In the same trip, I purchased a flower vase for 99 cents, so that the flowers my boyfriend brought me could finally have a proper place on my desk.

This year, I’ve been in need of some nicer shoes for fall, but have been waiting to find the right pair at the right price. Just a few days ago, I went on a double-thrifting adventure with my sister and a friend; at the first thrift store, I found a pair of tan shoes, great brand, great condition, and great for fall—that I purchased for five dollars. At the second store several miles down the road, I found the exact same pair of shoes, but in black, in near-perfect condition. Needless to say, my closet for fall is about ready to go. From all my experiences both in thrifting and finding what I need, and also by donating during spring cleanings, I cannot stress enough the value of thrift stores.

You can find a lot of treasures thrifting. You can’t find everything you need, but you can find a lot, and it’s worth the treasure hunt. It’s also a good habit to go through your closets and get rid of what you truly don’t wear, or donate that extra piece of furniture for someone else to get good use out of.

Buying nice doesn’t have to mean breaking your bank account. It can mean an outing with friends or family members to one’s local thrift store—you never know what you might find. Maybe a prom dress, maybe a framed picture, maybe a new pair of shoes. Here’s to August 16th, National Thrifting Day. Let’s all pitch in to combat wastefulness, excessive consumerism, and the myth that buying nice means buying over-priced. Go to your local thrift store and see what treasures you might find!

Read other articles by McKenna Snow

Read Past Editions of Four Years at the Mount