I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Everybody loves a parade.
That was once again on full display this past weekend at the West Suburban Irish St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Throngs of people lined the parade route solid from Naperville North High School to the intersection of Main and Water streets. Roughly in the middle of a string of marchers, floats, cars and more stretching more than a mile long, two of our three children and I represented Naperville Little League on a beautiful Saturday morning.
Nestled between DuPage County Board District 5 candidate Regina Brent and the Naperville Chargers youth football program, Naperville Little League players and coaches walked for our organization along with 94 more nonprofits, school groups, businesses and more. St. Patrick’s Day might not be until Thursday, but as it does every year, the parade made things seem as though that day had come early.
From the moment of lining up at North at 8:30 a.m. to finishing on Water Street about three hours later, it was a sea of green alongside, in front and behind. In an age with seemingly so many issues bitterly dividing us, the temporary respite of universal support for St. Paddy made it seem as though, yes indeed, everyone was Irish.
Which made me stop to think, maybe all we need is a few more parades. Imagine …
Daylight Saving Parades: Should we have Daylight Saving Time? Should it be abolished? It doesn’t matter. We have it, we have for decades, and we’re no worse off because of it. Stop grousing about a lost hour of sleep, and get outside to celebrate the longer spring and summer evenings. We’ll all line the streets together at dusk – regardless the hour – and go get some ice cream. Really, who doesn’t like ice cream?
Election Day Parades: Whether it be the primaries in the spring or the general in the fall, what if we all just agreed that exercising our right to vote – regardless of for whom or what we cast that vote – is an act to which we are all entitled? Maybe we could use a little less emphasis on the issues and hatred that divide us, and a little more understanding of the fact that we’re all not going to agree on everything all the time. And that’s OK. We’d line the streets decked in red, white and blue – not just the former and the latter – welcoming our fellow citizens to the polling places, rather than heckling and jeering for their beliefs that differ from our own.
Opening Day Parades: Cubs? Sox? Again, we’re not all going to agree, especially when they play each other. Let’s spend a little less time arguing about which team is better. On Opening Day, we just rejoice in the fact that baseball is back. We’ll show up in full force in the jerseys of our choice and find common ground together in the game we love, looking past the team loyalties that divide us. Sox fans, I must remind you of the time some of us pulled for your team in the World Series just to see a Chicago baseball team win it all. So we will kindly expect the same of you now. Hop aboard. There’s plenty of room on the bandwagon.
Tax Day Parades: I pay too much, you don’t pay enough. Blah, blah, blah. Whether you stand with Take-Half Bernie Sanders or Blow-It-Up-Ted Cruz, we all have to pay our share, regardless how much you think it should be. So this year, at 11:59 p.m. April 15, let’s all line the streets in our best accountant suits as we march to the post office to deposit our returns just ahead of the deadline. However, laughing and pointing at those who roll up after the stroke of midnight will be completely acceptable. Dude, buy a watch.
Snow Day Parades: This one didn’t come up much this winter, but rest assured that it will again at some point. Remember the winter of the “Polar Vortex”? Debates raging over how cold was too cold to allow kids to wait at their bus stops and to walk to and from school? “Kids should be in school no matter how cold it is,” some parents said. “Kids shouldn’t have to go outside when its 20 below,” others countered. Four snow/cold days later, the school year was stretched nearly a week further into June than originally planned. Rather than arguing about it, let’s all go out and stand and walk with them to get a better feel for what we’re really asking the kids to do … or not do.
First Day of Summer Parades: Sort of the opposite of the Snow Day Parade, the First Day of Summer Parade is an acknowledgment that whether we believe in climate change or not, we have but one planet to call home and we should take care of it. Do we really have to be convinced that carbon emissions are bad for the environment? Can’t we all agree that we’re not going to be able to flee this marble en masse anytime soon for fresh environs elsewhere in the solar system? We might as well make the best of it by heading outside at the peak of summer and celebrating that we can still go outside and breathe fresh air. While we still can.
We may not all agree on the issues, but there’s one things we can all agree on – everybody loves a parade.
Rob Manker is a freelance writer who lives, works and parents in Naperville.
More Top Picks Best Blue Light Glasses For Toddlers
Twitter @RobManker