Member-only story
Let's try not to end up on these lists in the future. Today, in History.
March 9: The Dark Side
Today is not just Meatball Day. It is also a day that saw many foul things, some of which we can learn from.
A rabbit hole of disagreeable events occurred today in history. There's a stockpile of historical events for any given date, but I will look at the ones I would like to sidestep in the future. If we play our cards right, we won't end up on future versions of this list.
Down with Public Kissing
Your girlfriend walks up to you in the street with a smile. She leans in to give you a hello kiss before you enter the coffee shop for the March 9 espresso specials. If this were 1562, you would pull back in trepidation. Had your lips made contact, you may very well have been executed.
Institutions in Naples, Italy, prohibited public kissing to curb the spread of the plague. From what I can find, many countries followed suit after this, but Naples was the first. The plague was not child's play, so it makes sense. Whether or not this was effective is questionable. Given the absence of information and knowledge about the disease, the logic is sound, I guess.
