Labor Day? Labor Day? Please. It ought to be called Lazy Day, as far as I can figure.
I mean, here I am on this wonderful day of freedom from toil, which is only darkened by the fact that it comes at the end of a long weekend, without a care in the world or much of an urge to toil my free time away. Nope, my bony little backside is rooted firmly to a comfy seat as a warm summer day keeps my disposition sunny. Yes, I am the proverbial cheeseburger–er, that is, veggie-burger–in paradise.
Who in the world would think of labor, of toil, of work on Labor Day?
This is a day of rest, right? We get a day off from work to become vegetables, to chill out until we are as cool as cucumbers, to plop ourselves in the hammock and get as snug as bugs in our rugs…right?
This is a leisure day, right? A day to sit out one running of the rat race, right?
Or is it? I mean, whilst I bask in my vegetative state and enjoy the duty-free day, I can hear mowers and blowers and power saws screaming with effort from neighbors’ yards in every direction. Yes, strange as it may sound, so many folks on this no-labor day are busier than bees as they labor away on their yards, their homes, their vehicles, their errand running, and their countless other “little projects” that just have to get done during this wonderful bit of (paid) “free” time.
And nature, too, seems to be busy toiling away despite the U.S. federal government’s decree that this is an official holiday. Sure, Jesus may have given his spiel about considering the lilies and how they toil not nor spin and all that…but those same lilies are in fact busy growing and reproducing and being pretty and what have you at every moment. Besides, Jesus is not the best authority on taking time off: he had no qualms about breaking the rule against working on the Sabbath! And the Buddha may have talked about having “few duties” and “living lightly,” but that poor fellow wandered around preaching and teaching–and for no pay–so he is not one to believe either!
