Rest ye from your labors
Happy Labor Day! Let the grills be lit.
The day came when I stopped rushing.
It was just a couple of months ago. One day, I realized that I didn’t really have to speed anymore to get where I was going. I had plenty of time. I usually arrived early, anyway.
So I lightened my foot on the go pedal. Rather than trying to jockey my way in front of the car that was in front of me, I patiently followed. Slipping into the exit lane, just past the I-40/U.S. 52 exchange, that drew me from I-40 West to Silas Creek Parkway, was actually smoother and safer after slowing down.
It was like discovering a new superpower.
The revelation expressed itself elsewhere, too, as I found that I had time to read, time to go for a walk, time to muse and ponder. I even went to see a movie and the world didn’t end.
We’re constantly preparing for the stage of life we just left, I once heard a smart man say, and I wonder if this realization couldn’t have come to me 18 months ago — when what was then my career ended sooner than expected. At that time, accustomed to the hecticity of journalism, I scrambled to fill my time with new projects — organizing the book Kevin Watson published, making fox art, writing this newsletter, curating the trailcam footage from Fox-a-Lago. I wasn’t ready for the rocking chair.
I’m still not. But I’m ready to change my pace. I’m ready to create a new relationship with my nemesis, time, to mete it out, not by the hour, but in some calmer, more organic way.
On this Labor Day, it’s good to remember that it was once the norm for many Americans to work six or seven days a week, 12 or 14 hours a day, for peanuts, until they died. Then the labor movement of the 19th century elevated the status of the American work force. Some would like to turn back the clock on those advances, though they’d not say so out loud, but the realization that workers are not interchangeable cogs in a machine, that we are human beings who have rights, including an expectation to enjoy the fruits of our own labors (“Marxist!”), changed American life vastly for the better — and created an economy that benefits all of us, even in tough times. (If you’re convinced that the current situation is disastrous and nobody can afford groceries anymore, go take a walk through Walmart.)
In the last year and a half, I’ve made new friends and acquaintances — no mean feat, at this stage of life — several of whom are retired. Some took that plunge a little sooner than they expected, the result of COVID or economic changes; others stayed in the work force longer than required.
I’ve learned that there are two cliches about being retired: One is that you’ll sit around at home, alone, bored, wishing you could go back to work.
The other is that you’re busier than ever, wondering how you had the time to hold down a job in the first place.
Most of the retirees I’ve met are closer to the latter group. I see them practicing tai chi in the park or volunteering at the Shepherd’s Center or participating in day-long strings of community meetings of one type or another.
But it’s those supposedly in the former group who are often referenced by politicians who would use their ennui as an excuse to reduce or eliminate Social Security benefits, if they could. It was just in March that conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, a young pup of 40 years, claimed that retirement was a “stupid idea,” that it leaves people with no purpose, and that no one should be retiring at 65 unless they were in poor health. Other conservatives often try to justify their attacks on Social Security provisions by referring to our increased life expectancy: “Americans are living longer,” they say, “so we should extend the age of eligibility for retirement.”
But that’s not true for every American; in particular, our rural neighbors are dying at younger ages, the result of “deaths of despair,” of diminished economic opportunities and maladies like alcoholism, opioid addiction and COVID.
It was 19 months ago that Republican Rep. Rick Allen of Georgia publicly suggested raising the age at which seniors can begin receiving Social Security. “People come up to me, they actually want to work longer,” he said.
But you know what? They already can work longer. No one is stopping them.
Except, perhaps, employers — like those who have pushed workers to early retirement or simply fired them. Extending the retirement age wouldn’t change that. It might, instead, create a new demographic, people unable to find work and unable to claim Social Security. How would they get by?
Others, like some I’ve met these last 18 months, are more than ready to leave the grind, to stop being worn down to a nub like the eraser on a pencil, at the mercy of unappreciative employers who use cheap labor to enrich themselves. Some would rather devote their time to meaningful causes as volunteers. Imagine the work force of millions of retirees, giving their time and efforts to improving their communities. For taxpayers, that’s a bargain.
Others would rather pursue personal goals — I think it’s fair to say that I’m closer to their ranks — and in a country with an economic system that rewards a few at the top extraordinarily well, it shouldn’t be beyond our reach to let people have some time to dole out as they choose; to conclude their lives with dignity rather than exhaustion.
Or, as Merle Haggard put it:
I’ve been workin’ every day since I was twenty
Haven’t got a thing to show for anything I’ve done
There are folks who’ve never worked and they’ve got plenty
I think it’s time some guys like me had some fun.
Why would anyone oppose that?
Outside early Friday morning, sipping my coffee, I watched the moon reflect a tiny, shining smile of sunlight. The stray piebald cat I call Casper slipped by silently while I politely pretended not to see him. (Wouldn’t want to shake his faith in his stealthiness.) Down the street, an unseen bird croaked hoarsely. Jupiter stood high, watching Mars settle down for the day.
As the eastern sky began to glow, a bright little dot slowly rose from the grasp of nearby trees, quivering through layers of atmosphere, for the first time this year. Are you Sirius? I asked it. I believe so.
Somebody has to witness these things and tell you about them.
That’s my job now. That’s my purpose. That’s where I always hoped to be.
…….
Overflow:
Check out Arzaia Thomas, the volunteer who runs the dish room at the Samaritan Ministries Soup Kitchen: “People need help. There are people that look all right but aren’t all right.”:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/winston-salem-woman-receives-volunteer-235450254.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
Yay, the labor movement!
A history of Labor Day:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/08/26/when-is-labor-day-2024/74950167007/
“People want to work longer.” They can, no one is stopping them.
American life expectancy has decreased for many:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/why-life-expectancy-in-the-us-is-falling-202210202835
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/20220831.htm
https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-life-expectancy-compare-countries/
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/03/23/why-americans-are-dying-from-despair
The Republican way: Start them working young; keep them working until they drop:
In other news:
After the altercation at Arlington National Cemetery — the Army says former president and convicted felon Donald Trump was warned about the rules but broke them anyway — will people finally wake up to what a terrible person he is, how unfit for office? After his representatives attacked a cemetery employee, Trump claims to be the victim himself, as he does:
“Well, I don’t know what the rules and regulations are,” he said. Shouldn’t he?
“I don’t know who did it, and, I, it could have been them. It could have been the parents, it could have been somebody —” he said about the TikTok video that his campaign produced and that he did a voice-over for.
This man tells us that he knows more than anyone about everything — except what his own campaign is doing. How can anyone think someone so irresponsible should lead the country?
How about after his reposting of a crude message about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Kamala Harris and blowjobs? Will his evangelical supporters be passing this story around on Sunday?
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/29/us/politics/trump-crass-imagery.html
He also claims to be a close friend of former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, the supposed recipient of Harris’s illicit sexual favors. No criticism for Brown, just for Harris? Figures.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-helicopter-story-explained-193346113.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
A song for the weekend; Tennessee Ernie Ford seems to be having a lot of fun while singing about working himself to death:
Here’s the book Kevin Watson published, Stardust and Scar Tissue, available from my friends at Bookmarks, the Book Ferret, the Central Library or directly from Press 53.
If you’re not yet a subscriber to “Mick Scott: Meditations,” you can have my essays delivered to your inbox on Sundays (and occasionally other times) for a small monthly payment or for free; either way is OK with me.
I have several public readings scheduled in the next couple of months; the first at 3 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12, at the community center in Salemtowne Retirement Community; use the GPS address 190 Moravian Way Drive to find it. I’ll not only be reading, but I plan to screen a short collection of trailcam footage from Fox-a-Lago!
I’ll also be at the Press 53 booth at the Bookmarks Festival of Books & Authors on the last weekend of September:
https://www.bookmarksnc.org/festival1
Thanks for being here today, friends. If you know anyone who might like to join us, please send them this way.
Mick, your columns are always a great way to start Sunday morning, this one especially a friendly chat. I enjoyed in particular, your lyrical musing about welcoming the Dog Star. Glad you are watching out on our behalf for so many things that might come and go if you did not pay attention to them for us. Gratefully, I and others thank you for your “labors.” Please, keep writing. We need more. 👍
Also - At age 85 I still find myself pointing out to my grown children what I've been doing/accomplishing/ whatever almost every time I converse with them. It seems I feel guilty or useless if I'm not doing anything, so I recite a list of activities to prove that I'm not lazy. My doctor gave me a lecture about this last week: You're 85. You don't HAVE TO be doing ANYTHING. Enjoy life. Be glad you have food to eat and a place to live. Smell the roses, remember?