While I do feel I ought to apologise for not having updated this blog for almost a month (having been on holiday, working on a few drawings and excelling in the most manly laziness), I'm also aware that I haven't even told anyone it exists yet, so apologising to no-one in particular would be delusional, and the boring, garden-variety delusional at that (as opposed to the special "if we plug him into a machine he's bound to start making money at some point" variety of delusional).
But, the idea; days dedicated to the celebration of something obscure, like Good Grammer or Flavours of Bread are nothing new - the 11th of July is World Population Day (hitting all the bases, there), while my birthday falls smack in the middle of National Breastfeeding week, rendering it instantly immemorable (National Breastfeeding week, I mean). These festivals generally go unnoticed on the whole, and even if your attention is somehow drawn to their existence, they usually invoke the simple response of "No, it isn't."
This is probably largely to do with not only the scale of the celebrations (I'm not really sure what I can do about the global population problem in the timescale of a day other than fret a little) but also their relevance - often, the purpose of a day or week's theme is simply to raise awareness, and once you've been raised aware...
So here comes National Apology Day, raising awareness about the benefits of apologising for whatever, to whoever you need to apologise to, either immediately after aggravating them, or later on, when the danger has subsided. It'll also be the perfect time to apologise, in the spirit of the day, for anything you feel like you apologising for. Society will knit back together, and other good things will happen as a result.
Now, I'm a realist - I understand that the day will probably kick off, at least initially, with a lot of 'ironic' apologies (the mailman apologising as he gives you your mail, for hilarious example), while others see the day as an excuse to just go about kicking things in or knocking things over, knocking on people's doors and running away, just because they can mockingly apologise for it afterwards. There could be further apology problems outwith National Apology Day, as those who are due to apologise to others will be able to retort "What do you think this is? National Apology Day?", albeit unfairly.
I think that these trubs would only constitute teething problems, though. Irony can only hold out for so long, and the relentless presence of National Apology Day will surely engender at least a degree of subconscious soul searching in even the hardest of hearts. Plus, it's a fantastic opportunity to sell greetings cards and other useless consumables, so it's a fair bet that the Occasions conglomerates will get on board. Laugh if you want, but when we're all happily apologising to one another just because we feel that we should in a few years time, I'll be expecting an apology from every single one of you. Despite no-one being aware of this blog.
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