Monday, September 1, 2014

Happy Labor Day - Now it's all downhill to the holidays.

Today we celebrated the last holiday of the summer. Labor Day, the holiday created to honor the labor unions and the works they had accomplished. Mostly, it has come down to retail sales and barbeques with family and friends, the last hurrah of summer. Soon it will be Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and ultimately New Year's Eve. I always look forward to this holiday. It heralds the fall, a colorful explosion of the foliage, and the cooling of the air. The halcyon time between summer and winter when neither heat nor air is required for household comfort. It is a time of trips to the North Georgia mountains and the harvest of crisp, tart apples in Western North Carolina. Thanksgiving follows on fall's heel and the smell of turkey and dressing will fill the air. The happiest season of all is right behind these forerunners, and 2015 will be a heartbeat away. 2014 has not been the best of my life, neither has it been the worst. Seems as one ages, or matures as a doctor so tactfully put it, life loses a good deal of its' luster and shine. It leaves one wondering what it is all about anymore. Is it all work, eat and sleep with little to sweeten the routine? As the years pass, I seem to know less than I did before. Things I was once sure of, I am not so decided on now. I don't think I am much different from many of the people of my generation. We have experienced the best of America and the worst as well. We have had our livelihood stolen from us by the powers that be who were sufficiently forewarned to manage to retain their wealth. We have a "recovery" that has never filtered back down to the middle class, and seems to be largely an urban myth created by the corporate controlled media. Despite all this, we go on. We persevere. We observe the unique American holidays of our fathers and labor to provide the happiness we experienced as children for out own families. That is the spirit of American. The same America that once experienced the highest standard of living in the world. After all is said and done, we still do. There are many who are so much worse off than we. Summer draws to close, and we should remember who we are and how much we still have. Praise God as this year dwindles down to the last dregs, and bring on the fragrant, happy days of the remainder of the year.