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Since 2001, the year in which Douglas Adams died far too early, his fan base began celebrating Towel Day on May 25th every year. On this day, Adams' die-hard supporters carry a towel with them, which they also display more or less prominently.
The real meaning of a towel has been Douglas Adams first featured in his 1978 radio play The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Incidentally, this series of radio plays was my first, which I not only followed regularly, but also recorded on the cassette recorder; a pastime completely foreign to today's youth.
The sudden death of Adams then pushed aside my memory of 2001: A Space Odyssey, a film by Stanley Kubrick, which had already appeared in 1968 and whose “anniversary” we actually wanted to “celebrate” with friends in 2001; just as we did earlier in 1984 with the book by George Orwell did, which incidentally came out in 1949.
Shortly thereafter, a separate Towel Day website went online, which, with its then innovative countdown, ensured that the coming Towel Day was not missed, nor Douglas Adams' History fell into oblivion.
So it was always nice to see when comrades or other people, from whom you probably never really expected it, appeared on May 25th with a towel, even in the midst of the hustle and bustle.
In the meantime the Towel Day website It may have disappeared from the World Wide Web but it has reappeared today in a slightly different form and I hope it will stay online for now.
Some of you may now ask yourself why you go to such lengths for an ordinary towel?
Here I simply recommend reading the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, because then this question should be clarified.
And if you still want to know why I'm hanging in the towel on this day, I can assure you that this has everything to do with my own professional life.
As early as the early 1990s, French comrades drew my attention to the urgent need for every active soldier to have a towel, which can easily be the size of a doormat.
In the years that followed, my towel proved its worth, although to my chagrin I had to change it more often. And this, in turn, led me to constantly remind younger comrades of the necessity and importance of a towel.
That's why I'm still happy today when people walk around with a towel on May 25th and wish everyone that their towel never really has to be used.
"He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it."
Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
