The following was emailed to us by an avid reader of ours. Being that he is an upstanding citizen and all, we figured we’d do him the courtesy of crediting him as “anonymous.” Cheers.
The following was emailed to us by an avid reader of ours. Being that he is an upstanding citizen and all, we figured we’d do him the courtesy of crediting him as “anonymous.” Cheers.
Some days you wake up and everyone’s on your back. Your boss, your girl, your boyfriend, your parents, the fucking dog, everybody. Sometimes you just can’t catch a break to save your life, and nobody’s there to help you out when you really need it. And when you’ve just about had it, and all you want is a moment of silence, you’ve got it at the spark of a lighter.
Now I realize that not everybody’s ok with smoking weed. It’s not for everyone. But everybody gets their rocks off somehow, and millions (if not a billion or two) across the globe get theirs the same way I do: with a smoke and a giggle. Pardon me if I sound silly, but there have been times when life knocked me on my ass and the brief moments of mental “time-out” I got from a quick smoke were what helped me get my shit together and get back on my feet. Sometimes the only thing that got me through to the next day was a burning joint and watching animals do crazy shit on the Discovery Channel. Some of my best moments have been spent hiding squinty eyes behind sunglasses, sitting by the river and watching the rapids make shapes. And you know what? I work three jobs, six or seven days a week, and I can’t remember the last time I missed a day of work. I’ve got my debt to society covered; I’m an honest, hard-working American, and I like to smoke pot.
That being said, today is 420, favorite unofficial holiday of every college kid across the country with that one Pink Floyd poster and a Peter Toshe record. To non-smokers, 420 seems like just a day when pot smokers smoke more pot than usual. This is mainly because it is. Some call it bullshit, a corny novelty for trustafarians, others attach great meaning to it, and celebrate it like Christmas Day. At UC Boulder in Colorado, students and townspeople host a massive group smoke-out on the quad. Last year, estimates were that over 10,000 were in attendance.
If you ask me, I say do what you want; if you want to run around bare-foot and bang a drum on 420, go ahead, get your kicks, and if you don’t, that’s cool too. The way I see it, it’s just one day out of the year to recognize that mutual friend that lots of us have, and to maybe share it with some buddies. No pomp, no circumstance, just a couple people with something in common and a couple laughs. Happy 420.
Here’s the origin of 420 and a couple important things that happened on April 20th throughout history:
– Origin: The term 420 in regards to smoking pot originated from a group of teenagers at San Rafael High School in California, in the 70’s. They would meet after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke weed at the Louis Pasteur statue. How it became an international sensation, I have no idea.
– April 20th, 571 AD – The prophet Muhammad, founder of Islam, is born.
– April 20th, 1810 AD – The Governor of Caracas, the current capital of Venezuela, declares independence from Spain.
– April 20th, 1889 AD – Adolf Hitler is born. What an asshole.
– April 20th, 1937 AD – George Takei, the guy that played Sulu on Star Trek, is born
– April 20th, 1943 AD – Edie Sedgwick is born.
– April 20th, 1962 AD – The US-backed invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs Invasion fails.
– April 20th, 1972 – Apollo 16 lands on the moon. This was the fifth American mission to land on the moon.
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