Mayday May Day
Growing up in the ’70s, the first thing that comes to mind is sitting on the floor, three feet from the self-standing television wrapped in an oak cabinet next to my brother Mark watching Gilligan’s Island, “Mayday!-Mayday! This is the Skipper of the S.S. Minnow!”. The call for distress as S.S. Minnow got lost at sea and landed on an island. Although a sitcom, the crew and passengers were jolted from the life they knew to that of survival. Each episode, they learn to live with their misfortune of living on a deserted island and trying to find a way to make it back to the life they once knew. Some of the characters fared better than others.
The origin of Mayday came from the French word m’ aider, which means “help me.” This was coined by senior radio officer Frederick Mockford in 1923 to find a good distress signal to communicate the International traffic in the English Channel between England and France.
Then there is May Day, the celebration of the return of spring. It is said that the origin most likely originated by the Greeks and the Romans in ancient agricultural rituals. Over time, the ritual evolved to include wildflowers, Maypoles, and festivals. The May Day festival became symbolic as a time dividing the year in half between the darkness of winter entering into the lightness of spring.
So we are here on May 1, 2020, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. In times of distress and united to help. Flattening the curve as the dark becomes light. The flowers are blooming, and the buds are sprouting.
Mayday! May Day!
