Two weeks’ holidays.

 

Two weeks’ holidays.

Two weeks in human life is not long, but not insignificant either. We are designed to live about sixty to eighty years, but many live longer or shorter. There are accidents, sickness, wars, acts of nature, malnutrition, and much more. Just listing the causes of death can easily fill a page. There are also people with a genetic disposition to live longer than most. There are people who can afford to live lives of leisure protected from most dangers.

Insurance companies are excellent at using statistics to predict how long people will live in a geographical area. I am not sure about the accuracy of this, but I heard that life expectancy is declining and infant mortality is increasing in the United States. It’s not what I would expect.

When I started my work life as a teenager, two weeks was the normal holiday. We worked eleven and a half months a year and holidayed for two weeks. Few people in those days had the means to go somewhere on vacation, but family visits were a common pass time. I remember the excitement of waiting for the holidays. Often I had projects lined up to be done when I was off work. Even though we didn't always have summer holidays, we enjoyed our time off. No one in my circles traveled by plane to other places because the only way to finance such was by giving up on other important things in life. I didn’t know any folks that were born into money. If I met them, they looked down with curled lips, often saying that they hate immigrants.

Later came a new period of holidays. We started camping. Holiday trailers and boats showed up on the highways and an industry developed around catering to vacationers. Now a holiday is longer for many folks. When I retired, I had seven weeks of vacation a year plus accumulated time from working extra. I chose to spend as much time as I could in the Crowsnest Pass, but my children prefer to endure the airports and the rush. They still mostly do a two-week vacation and the rest “as needed.” It is a prestige show item and people spend a lot of time talking about the exotic places they visited.

Now I am old, fighting cancer, and no longer care about holidays. My whole life is a holiday, spent in my choice of place, but I am not who I used to be when holidays meant so much to me. As a child, I lived in a tourist destination but didn’t know it. Holidays were a time away from school when I was alone on the farm. Later in life, when everyone was traveling, I was happy to be in a place that satisfied all my needs, stayed there, and thanked the Lord.

My work now is writing a column in the local paper. I receive positive comments which motivate me to write more. When I get two weeks of holidays I don’t rejoice, nor feel neglected. The world moves on. However, this year I wish it didn’t move as fast. First, there was a strike in Hollywood, the center of world entertainment, consequently well publicized. Shortly after a costly strike by the shoreman paralyzed sections of the economy. We found out that the Hollywood people were not being paid living wages. Both striking groups had a new demand. They want guarantees not to be replaced by Artificial intelligence. Another disaster showed its ugly face.

The economy went into inflation. We discovered Canada is suffering from a severe shortage of housing, while we are short workers. Money was set aside for housing but may have enriched people who do not provide the type of housing that is needed most. Many seniors and people on fixed incomes are using food banks.

As if that is not enough, global warming is here ahead of predictions. Canada is on fire. Droughts are threatening the food supply and there is no money to pay for the extensive fire and flood damage. Now even the tropical island of Hawaii is burning. I am trying to get away from all the bad news, but there is no break.

Every day there are reports of people trying desperately to migrate to better places and perishing in the attempts.

In desperation, I close my eyes and pray. God, please help us. We lost our way. In my mind, a voice says, you humans abandoned faith in me. Even those who say they believe in me honestly don’t. They either believe that their science will save them or argue about the stories I used for teaching what humans must do to save themselves.

I go back in my mind to what I know about holy books or scriptures. Eastern religions talk about reincarnation and eventually uniting with the Universal Mind. Judaism is built upon being the chosen people. Islam doesn’t shy away from using force to convert. Christianity appeals to me the most, but we divided it into over a thousand philosophies. Somewhere in all those volumes full of words, there is a truth hiding that all the believers claim to know.

What we need, now more than ever, is to change a few things.

Co-operation instead of predatory competition.

Less effort to please our desires and more to be moral creatures.

Understand each other as before the tower of Babel.

Listen to the collective unconsciousness more than to the private consciousness.

I will leave you with that and face the coming two weeks. May God watch over us all.