Happy May Day!

Happy May Day! That is, Happy May Day of my youth!

Once you've exceeded the half century post, you realize that terms and holidays take on a life of their own if you don't clarify what you mean. As a child, we celebrated the fullness of the Spring and the coming of Summer. In school, we made May Baskets and picked flowers to go in them. We left them on the door steps of our neighbors ~ especially conscientious to remember the older people in our community. It was a day of goodwill and good neighbors. In high school, I lived in Hawai'i. There, May Day was Lei Day. It was a day to celebrate the flowers of the islands (fullness of Spring, again) and to share their beauty (back to neighbors and community.) We would gather flowers, make leis and present them to friends and neighbors. As an adult, it is the time that our full days of farming begin. Days that we begin the planting (fullness of Spring) and working towards the harvesting (bounty of Summer), the battle with the weeds and the longer days which mean much shorter nights for resting, but longer days for helping other farmers, though there are fewer of us these days as the farms are turned into McMansions, the pastures into lawns (neighbors and community.) So, this is what I wish all that I know ~ the fullness of Spring, the bounty of Summer and the joy of friends, neighbors and communities.

Polluted by the world, this lovely holiday has been hijacked, as most lovely holidays are, by far too many others, and used for political or cultural agendas. This year is by far the worst. First, the day was used by the socialists to demand 'workers rights' - translate "redistribution of wealth." The Nazis used it as a day to show strength and might. In the Soviet Era, the government used it as a day to parade its military might ~ they called it "workers day", but people still starved and were exploited and the parades were of nuclear missiles. Now, the illegal residents of this country are using it to DEMAND specific rights and treatment from our government. They don't like the laws we have, they didn't obey the laws we have, so they are demanding laws they have no right to have. Any hope they had of moving me towards their side, they killed off by flying flags from foreign governments. A flag is a symbol of a country and demands loyalty and respect. Flying foreign flags on the streets of the United States is disturbing, in the least. The message it sends me is "do what we want or else, and, oh by the way, our loyalty is to another government, but you owe us free citizenship, medical care, schooling, and anything else we can get."

I wish all a Happy May Day (of my youth!)