Labor Day is a Day of Rest

When people say the earth is warming, we know it is true. We know this not because of statistics or quantitative proof but because we observe the effects of this heat in the lives of humans and the natural world every day.

           

In a lightning-speed, linear way, humans zoom. We rush away from our violent histories: domestic violence, sexual assault, war, combat trauma, genocide, slavery, colonization, global capitalism, climate change. And we propel ourselves into the future with fantasies of victory: conquest, winning, success.

           

And all of this leads to ever-increasing violence, a sense of disconnection from our minds and our bodies and our spirits, a hole in the center of ourselves that feels like an emptiness that can never be filled.

           

The way out of this is in the present. It is, literally, right here.

           

In this moment.

 

Slow down.

           

We do not have to try.

           

There is nothing we need to do.

 

Do we force the plant to fruit, fruit, fruit?

 

No. We reach out our fingers and pluck the grape gently from its climbing vine and place the round shape on our tongue. Bite slowly. Savor the wet sweetness. Swallow.

 

This is how it gets done.

 

This Labor Day, rest from your labors, from your rushing and trying and pushing and striving. Isn’t it time that you did?