Space Day – May 1
“There are no passengers on spaceship Earth. We are all crew.”
– Marshall McCuluhan
“Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.”
– Carl Sagan
“The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage.”
– Mark Russell
“The sky is not the limit. It is our destination.”
– Neil deGrasse Tyson
Teacher Appreciation Week – first week in May
“None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We got here because somebody – a parent, a teacher, an Ivy League crony or a few nuns – bent down and helped us pick up our boots.”
– Thurgood Marshall
“The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called “truth.”
– Dan Rather
“One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.”
– Carl Jung
Be Kind to Animals Week – first week in May
“The question is not; can they reason? Nor, can they talk? But, can they suffer?”
– Jeremy Bentham
“We’re not, after all, separate from the animal kingdom. We’re part of it.”
– Jane Goodall
“He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.”
– Immanuel Kant
First Newspaper Cartoon in U.S. – May 9,1754
“It seems beyond the comprehension of people that someone can be born to draw comic strips, but I think I was. My ambition from earliest memory was to produce a daily comic strip.”
– Charles M. Schulz
“Comic strips are like a public utility. They’re supposed to be there 365 days a year, and you’re supposed to be able to hit the mark day after day.”
– Garry Trudeau
Mother’s Day – May 10
“There is no way to be a perfect mother, but a million ways to be a good one.”
– Jill Churchill
“If at first you don’t succeed, try doing it the way mom told you to in the beginning.”
– Unknown
“Being a mom has made me so tired – and so happy.”
– Tina Fey
Clean Up Your Room Day – May 10
“’Later’ is the best friend of clutter.”
– Peter Walsh
“One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.”
– A.A. Milne
International Nurses Day – May 12
“To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived; that is to have succeeded.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Nurses dispense comfort, compassion, and caring without even a prescription.”
– Val Saintsbury
Armed Forces Day – May 16
“It is fitting and proper that we devote one day each year to paying special tribute to those whose constancy and courage constitute one of the bulwarks guarding the freedom of this nation.”
– President Dwight D. Eisenhower
“A veteran is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to ‘The United States of America,’ for an amount up to and including their life.”
– Unknown
“To those in uniform serving today and to those who have served in the past, we honor you today and every day.”
– Unknown
National Police Week – third week in May
“Understand, our police officers put their lives on the line for us every single day. They’ve got a tough job to do to maintain public safety and hold accountable those who break the law.”
– Barack Obama
“Discretion is the most powerful tool a police officer carries on the beat, because an appropriate level of discretion can short-circuit the use of lethal force. Discretion and de-escalation measures are pro-community, pro-police, and create more trust while making everyone safer.”
– John Fetterman
My heroes are those who risk their lives every day to protect our world and make it a better place – police, firefighters and members of our armed forces.”
– Sidney Sheldon
Memorial Day – May 25
“For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue.”
– James A. Garfield
“A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.”
– Joseph Campbell
“The patriot’s blood is the seed of Freedom’s tree.”
– Thomas Campbell
National Mental Health Month
“Mental health needs a great deal of attention. It’s the final taboo and it needs to be faced and dealt with.”
– Adam Ant
“What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, and more unashamed conversation.”
– Glenn Close