While reading up on Thanksgiving for yesterday’s post, I noticed the original date was the last Thursday of November. But it seems that, due to the fact the last Thursday could sometimes be 30th November – and thus there would be fewer shopping days until Christmas – the day for observing Thanksgiving was changed to the fourth Thursday in November. Which means it varies between November 22nd and 28th.

The reason I think this is interesting is the original date was chosen by none other than George Washington, with Abraham Lincoln then decreeing the last Thursday of the month.

Which indicates to me that focusing too much on preserving tradition – even those traditions enshrined by venerated individuals – ignores the simple facts of changing conditions.

Something we should be very mindful of in the field of patient recruitment, so that we don’t simply follow the path we’ve always gone down – resulting in the same results we’ve always had.