Back in 2010, a computer decided that April 11, 1954, was “the most boring day since the dawn of the 20th Century”. That’s a pretty bold statement to make from something that wasn’t there at the time.
The reasoning was “very few significant newsworthy events, births, or deaths are known to have happened” on that day.
I wasn’t there (then?) either, but I’ve had a few dud days in my life I would have liked to submit for “boring” consideration.
I decided to consult my friend Wikipedia and see for myself what did (or didn’t) happen on that day.
To add to the experience, as I’m writing this, I’m listening to the top hits on the “charts” on that day (not shockingly populated by Eddie Fisher, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Perry Como, etc. — some music fans will argue that list isn’t helping to deflate the “boring” label, especially when “Rock Around the Clock” was recorded the very next day by Bill Haley and His Comets).
OK, back to 11 April 1954 (for anyone across the pond reading this).
Among the allegedly notable things that weren’t all that notable were:
- The 1954 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship opened with the first round of the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship.
- The 1954 New Orleans Women’s Open golf tournament, part of the LPGA Tour, concluded. Marlene
Bauer won the tournament, with Betty Jameson coming in second. - Births of: Francis Lickerish (born John Francis Lickerish), British composer, guitarist, and lutenist; David Perrett, Scottish evolutionary psychologist; and Teo Peter, Romanian rock musician.
Ironically, and according to Wikipedia, there was less items and births of note going on the day before and the day after (save for the “Rock” recording), but who am I to argue with a computer?
I suppose if you ranked all of the 36,000-ish days of the 20th century, one of them would have to be the most boring by default.
Every day is a gift
I mentioned several people who would beg to differ that said April 11 was boring, uneventful, or whatever other word news sources used to run with that story 15 years ago.
One person’s boring is another person’s great day, I guess. My wife’s birth date and the day she and I were married might have been pretty meh to some people, but those days mean the world to me.
I have an even bigger reason why April 11, 1954, cannot and should not be called the boring anything — it was a Sunday.
Think about all of the Masses that were celebrated that day. Think of all of the people who attended those Masses and received Holy Communion at them.
Think about all of the prayers that were prayed and all of the prayers that were answered. Maybe there were some conversions as well.
Maybe there were prayers of gratitude and thanksgiving.
For all we know, April 11, 1954, may have been a grand day of supernatural blessings.
Take that, computer.
A blessed day doesn’t even have to be a Sunday. Any day that we receive a gift from God is far from boring.
In the great slider bar of life, there are many different opinions on what should be defined as “boring,” and different people like to share those opinions.
No one likes to be bored, and many people don’t like to be called “boring”.
I’m good at distracting myself with many shiny objects, so I rarely consider myself as bored, but I do wish I had the spiritual guts to — upon feeling “bored” — use that as an opportunity to bask in God’s love for me.
Use the right word
There are many words I would love to do away with for good.
“Ugly” is near the top of the list, but so are “boring” and all of its cousins — “basic,” “vanilla,” and so on.
Not every day is a skydiving adventure. Not every day is a moment for the greatest meal of your life. Not every day is 24 hours of everything going our way. Some may find days of things going wrong to be far from boring and would like some bland in their lives.
While we should always make the most of the gifts we were given on the days we are given, we shouldn’t fall into human and Earthly traps of judging their merits.
See times of boredom as moments of new opportunities, lest they become days of missed opportunities.
Our lives are more exciting than we realize.
We would like to hope God gives us the right amount of non-boring in our lives that we can handle, but we may not have the right perspective to totally embrace or accept it.
With God’s love, nothing is ever boring.
Thank you for reading.
I’m praying for you.