On today, Labor Day, it’s hard for me not to think of the huge machine that grinds all of us up and spits us out. Whether it’s oppressive working conditions ruled by fear of losing our jobs, worry about our industries, or balancing a mountain of debt against too little pay, few of us are free.
And while I’m happy that so many people still manage to find work they enjoy that pays enough to live on, even more I admire every single person who gets up and gets on the hamster wheel every single day, going to a job they hate, prying their white knuckles off the steering wheel to go inside a place they loathe to take care of their families.
The Wheel is designed that way, of course. Keeping us too distracted to see what’s going on behind the curtains of the Corporate War & Death Machine is always to their benefit.
Because if we weren’t so goddamned tired and worried all the time, so distracted by the unnecessary plastic items we convince ourselves make life worth living and are the point of the whole masochistic routine, maybe - just maybe - we’d stand up and say no. But we’ll never know, will we?
Same as it ever was…
And you may ask yourself
How do I work this?
And you may ask yourself
Where is that large automobile?
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful house
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful wife
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again, after the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground.
After being told they weren’t supposed to bring along any electronic devises, one of the kids going on my daughter’s backpacking/ orientation trip asked what they would be doing the rest of the time, you know, when they weren’t hiking.
I can’t wait to hear how it went.
I must have visited a couple dozen “liberal” blogs today, and yours was the only one I came across that paid any real attention to Labor Day!
Hey, I guess this is the New Democratic Party.
It made me even more ornery to read all the coverage of Palin’s family.
It’s the Dem. party which has done so much for the working class, including maybe the grandparents? of the creative class.
I am bummed that I am not hearing much today which celebrates that. It’s not just blue-collar workers who need strong advocates.