From the Pastor’s Desk:
As we celebrate Labor Day weekend, we are celebrating all those people who have helped in the past make this country the greatest nation on earth. Those people are the workers. It matters not if they are factory workers, professionals, farmers, housewives, county, state, or federal workers. All people who have worked to earn their way in life have made this a stronger nation. This is what we are truly celebrating this Labor Day weekend.
Over the last 250 years those workers have come from many different nations of the world seeking a better life. My grandparents were among those immigrating from one of the old eastern European countries. Those immigrants worked hard and found their dream, a better life for themselves and their children. One part of that dream was food. The United States had/has the ability to grow enough food to feed its population and more. It may not be able to grow everything we have come to enjoy, but we would not starve if all food coming into our country was halted. That cannot be said of most countries of the world.
With this said, we look at the evening news and find people all over the country that are angry. What are people are so unhappy about??? Is it that we have electricity and clean drinking water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time and see more food in moments than Kabul stores have seen in the last three months. This does not even translate into the amount of food we throw into the trash each day. Having all the thousands of restaurants with all types of cuisine from around the world, perhaps is not good enough. Could it be that when we wreck our cars, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all and if need be, send a helicopter to take us to the hospital.
Maybe people are upset with knowing that if our homes are on fire, a group of trained firefighters will come in moments and use the latest firefighting equipment to fight the flames, thus saving our families, and our belongings. Or maybe while we are home watching one of our many TVs and a burglar breaks in, a police officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend us. Maybe they are upset with our neighborhoods being free from bombs and militias raping and black mailing the residents. These neighborhoods are filled with 90 % of teenagers who own cell phones and computers. How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world. Are any of these why people are so unhappy????
As we celebrate Labor Day this weekend, perhaps we need to reflect on how hard the previous generations have worked and fought so we as US citizens and Catholic Christians have the best of both worlds, FREEDOMS and OUR FAITH. However, “the fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S., yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don’t have and what we hate about the country, instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.” (David Letterman-2015)