JULY 26th - Everyone Wants Their own Birthday



On this day in 1908, the organization that would become the FBI was constructed when the U.S. Attorney General ordered a group of federal investigators to report to the Chief Examiner. Incidentally, the FBI, or the Office of the Chief Examiner as it was known that first year, was founded on the same day the United States Postal Service was back in 1775, with ole Ben Franklin serving as postmaster general. And while organizations are not the same as people, their births, while perhaps being subject to a little more control, are still also subject to chance. So this coincidence, or perhaps not, has me wondering what has been the more important organization to American history. Being that the Postal Service was created before America was officially a country, I doubt I’m going out on a limb in saying that it was a more a vital organization. I mean sending/receiving mail has certainly affected more people than has the FBI. It has taken a bit of hit recently with the advent of e-mail and the interwebs. You still need it for packages though. Until teleportation. But that might be run by the USPS. As of now though, it’s just not as sexy as the FBI (the Pony Express excluded...I bet those guys did pretty well with the ladies). Your life isn’t really in danger being a mail carrier--although dogs certainly can prove hazardous. And going “postal” doesn’t exactly mean getting giddy. So it’s not an easy job. It’s not sexy. The FBI has undercover agents who infiltrate the mafia. That’ll get your blood pumping a bit. If you think of them as brothers, the USPS is the boring, responsible brother who took over dad’s business when he died unexpectedly. He’s dependable. The FBI is the younger brother who moved to Hollywood, maybe got a pilot picked up and is treated like a damn rock star every time he comes home. He's sexy. Neither is inherently better than the other. And while I don’t know the probability of organizations sharing the same birthday (I’ll leave that to Morgan Freeman), I’m sure they are both pretty pissed they share the same birthday. Everybody wants their own birthday.

This day has been Marked.

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