Labor

Perhaps we learned something from Katrina after all. Gustav hit the Gulf coast and went pop, downgraded to a Category 1 within hours of making landfall. But in view of what it promised to be at least one pro football game kick-off time got advanced, and a New Kid on the Block concert got postponed. Even the Republican Party Convention took on a more somber tone due to Gustav. Evacuation announcements made the news, but not the evacuations themselves. So how long before we forget? Probably as long as it takes people to elect politicians for other reasons rather than these.

Today was Labor Day, on which very few of us really labored at our jobs. Congratulations to the American Laborer who works with dignity and integrity--may he or she always be compensated justly. But in another way we all labor--we labor not to forget the important things even when they are no longer urgent. We labor to keep in mind the significant things even when they are not in the news. We labor to keep heavenly things before us, even when all around we see earth.