Labor Day

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Recent Posts:1) Al Franken: 2) New School Year; 3) Ukraine Visitors; 4) Activism; 5) State Fair; 6) Mikhail Gorbachev, 7) Insecure

Yes, there have been several recent posts.  Take your pick.  Many readers are ‘activists’.  Please take a look at the post on activism.

On this Labor Day, simply some suggestions about very interesting upcoming events:

  1. THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED.  Thursday, September 15, Citizens for Global Solutions MN will have a Zoom Conversation with Ukraine native Natalie Etten about the situation in her home country.  I think Natalie coordinated the student visit here a couple of weeks ago (Ukraine Visitor blog, above).  Details of the September 15 session as currently available are here.  Attendees are asked to register in advance.
  2. The Veterans for Peace Golden Rule boat begins what will be a 10,000 mile 1 1/2 year “Grand Loop” down the Mississippi, thence east and north up the Atlantic Coast at Stillwater MN September 17, 2022.  Earlier events are in Duluth on September 8,

    The Golden Rule 2022

    All details of the project, including a history of the boat, and the schedule of events are here.  See pp 5&6 of the newsletter for calendar of specific events in Duluth, the Twin Cities area, and downstream Minnesota.  This is a major initiative to highlite the need to end nuclear threats; the current tensions in Ukraine emphasize the need for spotlighting this concern.  (The west coast/Hawaii portion of the tour has been completed.)

  3. The annual Twin Cities Non Violent initiative, which first occurred in 2018,  begins September 21 and goes until early October.  A 10 minute video introduces this years event.  You can view details here.  You are especially encouraged to participate in Day One.

A final thought: Sunday, Sep. 4, Fr. T at Basilica delivered another powerful message, this time for Labor Day, His sermon was based on Paul’s Letter to Philemon from prison, about a slave about to be released to his master (see Philemon 9-10, 12-17 from Grandma’s 1911 Bible: Pauls Letter to Philemon 9-10 12-17).  The Priests message centered on his recently watching three workers doing a roofing job near his home on a 91 degree day, and a brief visit with them at the end of the day.  Their work day was a difficult 10 hours.  We’ve all seen similar projects where we live.  Father’s message at the end: “The rich are getting richer and poor are getting poorer in our world.”  We, sitting there in church, are largely “master’s” – rich – (though we wouldn’t think of ourselves as such) not far separated from “slaves” who provide our wants and such as clothing often from sweat shops overseas, a new roof, and on and on.

On this Labor Day, with the political messages things like inflation, and similar ‘woe is me’ narratives, we remain far and away the richest nation on earth, and it seems never enough.

Here’s an on-point commentary from Marianne Williamson.

Finally, I offer an uplifting conclusion to this post.  I was sent this a couple of years ago, and it speaks to me, and I hope it raises you up as well.

Have a great fall and year.

A post on politics, tomorrow.