May Day

My Appalachian Trial calendar says May 1st is a holiday in the UK. It is actually a holy day for the American establishment. Law Day was established as a response to the annual parade Stalin and Lenin held on this day in Moscow to proclaim its pending victory over capitalism. Seventy five years later, without any war, the walls collapsed and communism was history.

Today however a group of self-proclaimed Americans, most of whom are not citizens, have used this day as one of protest. They proclaim, as they boycott the workplace, schools and shopping, that the doors have been closed to them and that walls are being built across our southern borders as if the latest immigrants are our enemies. The dream they seek is so precious that they are willing to risk death to reach paradise. If the truth be told, we need the passion, energy and money of undocumented workers to sustain the American Dream. They pay taxes, including social security taxes, but these social security payments may never benefit them. No wonder the IRS is unwilling to share this data with other government agencies. They are the rising tide which will lift all of us.

I have been thinking and writing about penitential prayer but I am unable to write the right prayer for what many hope will be an auspicious occasion. “Lord, hear our prayer” will have to do.

Copyrighted 2006

Religion

Christianity

Gospel of Luke